It was well before midnight when the girl and her companion arrived, half-soaked in the rain battering the narrow, dark streets. Strands of her long copper hair stuck to her oval face, making her cat-like eyes a deeper shade of brown. Her sharp features shone against her pale complexion in the light of the candle carried by the woman of the house as she came to answer the knock on their door.

"Hi. We're so sorry for disturbing you at this hour. But we're looking for Fr. Andres?" The girl asked while the lanky boy beside her struggled with the umbrella he was holding. Behind them, metal roofs continued to rattle from the strong winds that howled and whistled through the thin gaps between houses, the sound created like an out of tune symphony.

Looking up to the sudden guests, she held the candle further out in their direction. She could tell the girl was pretty, even in her unkempt state. Her aquiline nose and light complexion gave away her mixed origins. On the other hand, the boy's features remained concealed. The hood of his green cotton jacket cast shadows over his face like a mourner's veil.

"Are you here for the-?" The woman was unsure what to call the happenings in their house for the last four days. Nevertheless there was a tinge of hope mixed in with the more evident exhaustion.

"Yes. We're here to help." A small smile formed on the girl's slightly full lips. "May we come in?"

"Oh. Yes. Please." The woman said as she stepped aside, pulling the door open. "I apologize for the darkness. There's been a province-wide blackout because of the storm."

The girl simply nodded and made her way inside the house. Her companion followed closely behind her in silence.

"Let me take care of that." The woman reached for the dripping umbrella the boy had just managed to close. She let it rest against the door frame, creating a puddle on the painted concrete floor.

"Thank you, ma'am." The boy spoke with a noticeable accent, his vowels pronounced short and sharp.

There was a dreadful weariness on the woman's face that showed under the light of the candle when she smiled. She had dark circles around her big, round eyes, and a dullness in them that spoke of sadness and lost hope. Her nose, a flat stub in the middle of her circular face, crinkled whenever she sniffed, the sound echoing in the otherwise silence that filled the humid home.

"Let's get you warm first. I'll tell Fr. Andres you've arrived. He's in my daughter's bedroom with the others" The woman spoke as she guided their visitors past the humble living room of bamboo couches and painted concrete walls. It was a short walk into the adjourning shared dining and kitchen, which looked a bit worse with the exposed plastering on its walls.

"Thank you." The girl replied, watching the woman place the candle holder on the table made of cheap wood and plastic.

"I should be the one thanking you." She smiled. "Padre told us you were coming all the way from the capital."

The girl nodded. She and her companion had taken the first flight they could book after the priest rang her with urgency earlier that afternoon. She did not question why he wanted her to come; their seven-year relationship revolved on one thing.

"We're sorry to have you come a long way." The woman said. "It can't have been easy getting here with the storm and all. Please make yourselves comfortable. Let me know if you need anything."

The girl shook her head. "It's really no problem. It's what we do." She smiled.

"We're still really grateful either way." She placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, squeezing it gently.

The girl barely stopped herself from jerking away from the woman's touch. She was still not in the best of shapes, and any form of human contact was like a sizzling burn to her sensitive nerves.

"I'll call on Father." The woman announced before she went further into the house.

They took seats on each side of the table facing where the woman had just disappeared to. Their shadows danced on the walls in the orange light from the candle, which bathed the small room in an eerie glow. Outside they could still hear the storm raging, the heavy rain like pellets hitting the roof.

The boy pushed his chair further from the table, and removed the hood covering his head, revealing a Hispanic face with a prominent jaw. He wiggled out of his jacket next, and ran a hand through his dark hair, which had grown long and almost reached his shoulders.

"I seriously need a haircut." He muttered pinching the high bridge of his nose that had been stinging from the beginning of a cold. He let out a loud sneeze.

The girl made a disgusted face. "Didn't your mother teach you to cover your mouth?" She rummaged her pockets for her handkerchief.

"Sorry." The boy smiled sheepishly as he watched his companion wipe her face and nose twice. He leaned back on the chair, his broad shoulders slumped and his posture relaxed. "What kind of demon do you think we'd be dealing with?" He asked in a more hushed tone.

She let out a sigh. "I've no freaking idea." She darted her eyes around the room, her hands playing with the long sleeves of the navy, turtleneck shirt she was wearing.

From the moment they got in the house, the girl had been trying to get a read on the evil presence supposedly tormenting the family who lived there. It was the one thing the priest would call her for. And yet for some reason, no matter how many times she tried, she felt nothing but the humid air making the hairs on her wet back tingle in discomfort.

"I got nothing." She shook her head.

"What do you mean?" The boy rested his arms on the table, bending closer towards his companion.

"I don't feel a presence." She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Do you?"

"Don't look at me. You're the one with the demon sense here."

"Maybe you gained sixth sense overnight. You'll never know." The girl shrugged. "Anyway, when there's a demon it's usually like walking through gelatin, heavy and thick-"

"And gross. Yes, you've told me."

"Well, this place is as clean as a Church." The girl roamed her eyes again, slowly this time, like she was trying to catch the movement of a mouse running from one hiding place to another through the gaps in the cabinets. "The cab was stuffier than this place."

"Maybe Fr. Andres cleansed it before we got here. That usually clears things up, right?"

"Yeah, but not this clean."

The pair had been too immersed in their conversation that they failed to notice the woman of the house come back from the same place she'd disappeared to. Two other people trailed behind her.

"Adelaide, I'm glad you made it here safely." The shorter man with the thick beard wearing a black, standard clergy shirt sounded genuinely relieved at the sight of the ragged-looking girl sitting on the kitchen table. He lacked the big, fat belly most old priests had been sporting like some trendy new shoes, and held himself with a certain elegance, which demanded attention and respect despite his small stature. "How was your flight?" His voice, when he spoke, was deep and calming.

"Horrible." Adelaide replied, making a face.

"So Padre, what's cooking in there?" The boy inquired, tipping his head towards the direction the group had come from.

"Matthias, please." Fr. Andres darted his eyes towards the woman and the man who were standing to one side, listening quietly to their conversation.

The boy mouthed a sorry and smiled before shutting his mouth like a chastised kid.

"Father." Adelaide said. "Are you sure about this? I'm not picking up on anything."

"Yes." The priest pulled one of the remaining two chairs still tucked in its place and sat. "But first-" He gestured towards the middle-aged couple. "These are Mr. and Mrs. Salvatore. It's their daughter - Angela - who I believe has been possessed by a demon."

"Please!" The woman broke into tears. "You have to help her! She's a good kid! She goes to Church every Sunday! She prays every night! I don't understand why it has to be my daughter. She hasn't done anything!"

The man hugged his wife, letting her cry into his shoulder. "A-Angela, she's not herself. She's shouting, throwing and breaking things. She's hurting herself!" He pulled his wife closer in search of comfort. "I-I don't think she's my daughter anymore."

Adelaide nodded, used to the hysterics. She knew too well being there when the transformations happen was one of the most unpleasant experiences anybody could ever have, especially if it happens to a loved one. Even the kindest, most devoted, God-fearing people turn spiteful and murderous once possessed. It wasn't just a character adjustment. Being possessed by a demon was a soul-scarring experience that threatened the very foundation of people's faith.

She shot the priest a meaningful look, the one she always gave him when she wanted them to be left alone so they can talk about the specifics – the real significant details.

Fr. Andres cleared his throat and stood from his seat. "Mr. and Mrs. Salvatore, I suggest you get some rest first while we talk about your daughter's condition." He placed a veined hand at the man's back and ushered them towards the direction of the bedrooms. "You've already told the story once. Allow me to handle this one in your stead."

A few minutes had passed before the priest made it back to the table. It took longer placating the distraught couple, though he had done the routine many times before. Perhaps it was because he was second guessing his own words that the Salvatores doubted them. There was no helping it though. Their daughter's case was unlike any other he had encountered.

The priest sighed, scratching his thick, graying hair as he took his seat back in front of his younger companions. "What you noticed earlier, Adelaide, is true." His gray eyes were like overcast when he met the girl's gaze. "When I first came here, I also did not sense anything demonic, which was why it took me four days before I decided to call you."

"Four days!" Matthias' voice was low, yet still clearly shocked at what the priest had just said.

"The host should be beyond help by now." Adelaide said, brows knitting. She and her companion were usually summoned in a span of twenty-four to forty-eight hours upon first contact. Any longer and the possessed would be left comatose, or worse, dead.

Fr. Andres nodded. "Under normal circumstances, that is correct. But something is not right with Angela's case. The manifestation of the usual signs is erratic. I believe she has already been possessed for at least two weeks before I came to see her."

The girl could only imagine what the priest had implied. Possession wasn't an exact science, but it still followed a general progression, like any other aggressive diseases. Drastic changes in personality came first, just short of one or two days. Vomiting and more alarming manifestations such as aversion to the holy and blessed, xenoglossy, and levitation, came next in another three days. Suffice to say, the people surrounding the possessed would've approached the local Church for consultation in less than a week's time. And yet the Padre seemed sure the young girl has been possessed for twice as long. She wondered if he might've made a mistake, but then she had no reason to doubt the older man's judgement.

A perplexing notion crossed the girl's mind. There was only a slim chance she could be right, but she didn't stand to lose anything if she asked.

"Father, how did you even know about this case?" In her head she could feel a light buzz reacting to her words. Perhaps there was indeed some underlying accuracy in her hypothesis.

The darkening of the priest's face made Adelaide feel a mixture of excitement and distress. It seemed the older man had been thinking along the same lines.

Pursing his lips, the priest placed his clasped hands on the table. "I was set to come to Cebu for a visitation of the local orphanage last Sunday. I am friends with the Mother Superior running the place. It has been decided since last month."

"That couldn't have been a coincidence!" The boy said. The girl, on the other remained quiet, gathering her thoughts.

"My thoughts exactly, Matthias. Given all the facts, I think it is safe to assume that this was a deliberate possession, which is also why I was extremely hesitant to summon you here."

"Makes sense why the manifestations are erratic, and why we couldn't sense anything. The demon's intentionally prolonging his stay in the host's body."

"Can demons do that?"

She turned to her companion. "The small fries wouldn't be able to, in theory. They're too addicted to human life force." A soft, collective murmur flitted through her mind - a confirmation.

"That is correct."

"A higher demon then?"

"We haven't encountered one before, but maybe. Explains the unusual control and the ability to hide his presence." The muttering grew louder, and a chill ran down Adelaide's spine. If they were on the right track, their lack of experience in dealing with the smarter spawns of evil would definitely complicate things.

Worry washed over her like a rain shower. She suppressed a shudder tingling in her muscles and urged the gears in her head to turn faster.

"A higher demon won't be too big on sharing though," she said. "And there has to be only one, otherwise, the daughter would be long gone by now."

Adelaide's words triggered unpleasant memories of a case they had handled the year before, when they were called in to exorcise a girl who had been possessed by three demons. Like a pack of hungry hyenas, the demons fed on the girl's life force in a frenzy, which got them racing against a disturbingly shorter time to save her. The girl's body had deteriorated at an alarming rate that every minute they spent on thinking had been a big gamble on her life. In the end, they did save her, but the experience was something none of them was eager to relive.

Matthias shivered. It was the one case that had haunted him for days. He could remember waking up in the middle of the night more than once, covered in cold sweat. The girl's continuously changing features and web of voices had filled every one of his dreams, turning them into nightmares. He had likened it to catching a person with multiple personality disorder on an extremely bad day. The person would keep on changing from one personality to another, and would interact with himself - spitting, vomiting, rabidly drawing his own blood.

The boy willed the events back into his subconscious. He just wish it wouldn't come to haunt him again if they do manage to get some sleep some time later.

"I have come to the same conclusion," the priest said. "Though what eludes me is the identity of the demon. Up until you came, I have been trying to force it to tell me its name to no avail."

"So we're still in the dark on this one." Adelaide slumped in her seat.

"Wait." The boy leaned in. "I thought higher demons don't possess humans because they feed on other evils like genocide and whatnot? Don't they bring on wars?"

"In theory, that is correct."

"Higher demons are like managers of Hell. They usually stir things up, and then they just feed on all the negative emotions and thoughts their wicked plots spark. They're not really big on micromanaging."

"Huh? Then what's this one doing feeding on Angela's soul?"

"That's exactly what's bothering me about this whole thing." Adelaide turned to the Padre. "Please tell me you have a theory."

The priest sighed. "I have but one. Though I wish to be proven wrong."

"And?" She arched a brow.

"It is not a secret that I am the only one permitted by the Philippine Church to handle cases of possession. There has always been only one given the responsibility, until the time to appoint another comes upon the predecessor's death. And whoever holds my position is also the only one with direct access to you." He looked at the girl pointedly. He watched as the grave realization dawned on her. "This gives me reason to believe that the ultimate goal of whatever inhabits Angela's body is to get to you."

Adelaide and Matthias exchanged a look. They understood perfectly what the priest meant. Because of her unusual ability, it made sense that Adelaide would eventually summon the wrath of some higher evil. If it was her choice though, she would've preferred it to happen later rather than sooner. Or better yet, not ever.

The next few seconds ticked by in silence as the storm outside momentarily took a breather. Shadows danced like puppets on the walls under the dim, orange flame, their movement flickering in a hypnotic rhythm.

The Padre righted himself on his chair, as though he had suddenly regained some of the strength he'd exhausted in the last five days. There was one other pressing matter they needed to address, and judging by the girl's attire and the subtle weariness in her eyes, he knew he would not like the answer he'd be getting.

"I have to ask this Adelaide." He locked eyes with hers. "When was the last time you were purged?"

Matthias turned to his companion, cautious of how she would react to the question. He had been pushing the issue of purging after their last two assignments, and was rewarded with sharp glares and a cold-shoulder treatment, which only stopped upon him making a promise never to bring it up again.

The boy was aware the ritual was anything but a walk in a park. With the way Adelaide would scream her throat raw from the other side of the door where he usually waited for her, the whole thing had to be beyond unpleasant. The insulated walls and solid-core door made no difference - her strained voice still penetrated the adjoining room like a ghost, deafening his ears and crushing his soul as he listened. The boy could barely imagine how excruciating it must be to have the demons ripped out and compelled back to Hell, when the vile little creatures themselves held on for their existences. It took a lot of chanting, praying, and burning candles to the wick, as far as he knew. It was the subtle background to the heart-wrenching cries of the girl seemingly being burned at the stake.

He could still recall the last time he had accompanied his friend to be purged six months before, like a vivid nightmare in the middle of a day. It took them five whole hours before the designated priests and his assistants were finished, and Adelaide had to be carried to a resting room afterwards, where she had slept for another four hours, just to regain strength in her legs. Matthias noted to himself then how each visit seemed to take longer each time they went. He couldn't say it didn't scare him.

"Don't worry about it, Father. It won't be a problem." Adelaide  unconsciously tugged at the end of her sleeves to cover both her wrists.

"You didn't answer the question." The priest's tone was reprimanding.

Adelaide was about to respond when a tall man about her age appeared through the dark hallway in a run. The light brown color of his almond eyes shone against the light of the quickly burning candle.

"Father, she's suddenly gotten worse. She's-" The boy stopped short, taking notice of the other two people sitting on the table. His expression shifted to one of guarded contempt.

The priest caught the boy's reaction and sighed. He pushed against the table for partial support as he stood from his seat. "We will have to postpone the introductions for later. Right now, it is more important that we help Angela." He turned to Adelaide. "Our conversation will have to wait as well."

"Wait." The girl called out just as the two men started walking. She stood from her place on the table as well. "I'll come with you."

Matthias made a motion to stand and join them, when his friend raised her hand to him, her palms out. "Stay here, Matt. We'll call if we need anything. This isn't one of our usual cases so I want to assess the situation first. Besides, I'll feel safer with a life line out here." She smiled weakly.

He could see shadows of listlessness hovering on the girl's face. Worry twisted his insides, though he knew arguing his point would be futile against her stubbornness. "Fine." He replied, a dull edge in his voice. "But only if you promise to scream murder if anything goes wrong."

Adelaide smiled wider at the thoughtfulness of her companion. "Don't worry, that's one of my specialties." She winked at him, hoping the touch playfulness could mask the dread beginning to gnaw at her confidence.

The whispers in her head had not disappeared. If anything, they only grew louder with each careful step she took behind the unknown man and the priest.

The boy watched at the corner of his eyes as the girl fell in step with them. She was a few inches shorter than him that he had to shift his gaze a bit lower to get a better look. He admittedly found her attractive, despite her looking like she needed sleep more than any of them did. Ironically, it was exactly for that reason he didn't like her. Her being pretty meant a whole lot of trouble for him, especially now that he was practically a hair away from taking that vow of chastity.

He ran a big, calloused hand through his cropped hair. Thinking about the whole thing would only dig him a bigger hole. He should just focus on the case; it was more important than his hormones.

"The demon's becoming stronger," he said. "She almost snapped her restraints when she went after the candle on the bedside table. She's speaking different languages since she regained consciousness too." He stopped in front of the door at the end of the short hallway, and placed a hand on the knob before turning to Adelaide with the same look of dislike he'd sported when he first saw her in the kitchen. "I think she's sleeping again. Don't do anything stupid."

Adelaide raised an eyebrow at him. She reckoned the boy couldn't have known who she was if he was treating her like a newbie.

"I know what I'm doing." She returned his glare. Whatever his reason was for not liking her was the least of her problems; he could downright hate her for all she cares. He could take his breathtaking eyes and beautifully angled face to hell, and she wouldn't even bat an eyelash.

"Enough." The priest's voice cut through their glaring contest. He turned to the boy. "Open the door, Gabriel."

Gabriel averted his eyes a bit reluctantly, turning the knob he'd been nursing in his hand. He didn't want the girl thinking she'd won. No matter how petty the whole thing was.

Adelaide smirked behind him as he pushed the door open. Her silent gloating was cut short when the stench of mixed sweat and blood rushed out of the room in a suffocating burst. The heavy atmosphere she was desperately searching for in other parts of the house hit her hard in her chest and abdomen like a boxer's fist. The strength caught her off guard she had no choice but to turn to the opposite wall for support. She fought her reflex to throw up, clutching hard at her midsection as she dared another look through the open doorway. She cursed inwardly amidst the amplifying whispers in her head. Dealing with possessions was what she did, and her getting sucker punched was a tad pathetic.

"You okay there?" Mockery tainted the boy's voice.

She gritted her teeth. "Fine." She spat as she righted herself, annoyed at her own physical limitations. "I wasn't expecting it to be that–" She scoured her thoughts for the right word, but the murmurs made it impossible. "Let's just say it had a punch. A strong one."

She willed herself back on her feet, letting go of the wall once her stomach had settled. The priest glanced at her, making sure she was once again steady, and led the way into the room without another word. They both came in after the older man with the boy bringing up the rear. Gently, he closed door behind him again.

It felt like everything was moving in slow motion as they stood around the single bed with its headboard pushed against one wall. Adelaide imagined it would feel the same, walking through unset concrete, right in those last few moments before they'd completely hardened. She remembered the way she tried explaining to Matthias how demonic presence changed the atmosphere within close proximity, and could almost laugh at how silly her metaphor had been. Even if he didn't have the sixth sense, she was sure he would've noted the difference if he came in with them.

All the girl's doubts from before vanished the moment the boy opened the door and the faint light of a candle spilled through the hallway. Clearly, whatever was inside the Salvatore girl was more powerful than anything they've encountered; all the cases they've handled so far a child's play in comparison.

A chill ran down her spine as the whispers in her head grew louder. She had not been purged for a while, and the demons still inside her stirred. A hint of excitement mixed with the fear beginning to form in her chest. No doubt it was the demon's restlessness tainting her own emotions.

She roamed her eyes as she gathered her courage, hoping her companions wouldn't notice her sudden discomfort. There was no room for her fears, she knew, for it would feed the evil like gasoline to a flame. She needed to reign in the demons as well, lest she would be nothing but a liability to the priest.

But each willful attempt was met with loud cackles in her ears, silhouettes dancing like darkness mocking her humanity. The more she fought them, the more she felt herself falling deeper into a frenzy. She cursed herself in her silence. Now wasn't the time to lose sense and control. Or did she want an ending with warm blood on her hands?

A guttural noise broke through the racket in her head, and her darting eyes settled on the bed again. She moved slowly towards it, dragging her feet across the bare wooden floor.

The small form of the Salvatore girl lay tangled in the sheets, and Adelaide couldn't help but feel a tinge of sympathy at her state. Her flat chest rose and fell, trembling, as she took shallow breaths of air. Her labored breathing created the same noise that had brought her back to reality, like a rumbling of sort - like there was something stuck inside. Her leathery skin molded her skull like melted cast iron, her jaw and cheeks jutting out from her small face. Strands if her long, black hair parted in thick, greasy lumps, and her stained day dress stuck to her sweat-covered body like plastic wrap.

Thick ropes tied the girl's arms and legs to the bed. She strained against them as she tossed and turned where she lay. The lids covering her bulging eyes fluttered as beads of sweat trailed down her forehead. Her brows furrowed deeply, her expression one of unbearable pain. If not for her dreadful state, anybody would've mistaken her as a girl have nightmares. Only her nightmares were real.

The girl looked too much like a corpse that Adelaide had to remind herself she was still alive. She could hear the wheezing of the poor girl's breath and the incomprehensible whispers escaping her chapped lips bounce off the thin, plywood walls of the room. It unnerved her. Never had she seen a possessed at such a hopeless state.

"I am afraid we don't have long." She watched the Padre made the sign of the cross in the air, devastation coloring his words.

"A few more hours at best." Saying what she knew was the truth didn't help the nagging defeat she felt. Part of her insisted that the girl wouldn't be worth their efforts - that she was beyond saving. It urged her to turn her back and walk away. The other part though was prepared to fight whatever evil nested in the young girl, and that was the part of her she listened to.

Adelaide wiped the sweat forming on her own forehead with her hand. The room was uncomfortably hot and humid, worse than the summer they'd experienced that year, which had cracked the plains and burned parts of some forests. It seemed to her the demon had brought with it a little portion of hell when it ascended.

She could feel her head starting to spin and her senses numbing, yet all she could do was curse herself to focus. A rather bad sign, she thought.

"That's right." A deep, inhumane voice came from the direction of the sickly girl on the bed, its sing-song inflections an obvious form of taunting.

They all took a step back as the girl's eyes flew open, revealing a pair of deep-socketed blackness. A predatory smile formed on her lips as she hummed. She pulled against the ropes in her attempt to rise from the bed, and cackled when she failed. "Oooh boy, if only Angela's soul had been weaker. Imagine the fun I would have had by now." She sighed.

The sudden monologue had them all tongue tied. Adelaide, for one, expected the hysterical nature usually exhibited by victims of possessions, not the coherent ramblings of a young girl tied to a bed.

"Hello guests!" The girl smiled at their small ensemble. She grinned wider when her eyes landed on Adelaide, yellow, decaying teeth peering through the gap between her mouth. "Aaah. At long last!" She exclaimed. "I am deeply sorry you had to see me in this hideous state. I'd have preferred meeting you for tea, but Angela was just so fuuucking resistant. See, it was impossible to speed up the process." She tugged at her restraints again.

Adelaide stared at the creature with her lips slightly parted. In her head the voices clamored. She reckoned whatever was inside the girl was clearly the reason the demons were making a riot.

She found her voice then. "What are you?" The question was out of her mouth in a whisper before she could stop and second guess it.

The girl laughed again. "Wouldn't you like to know?"