The End of all Dreams

I could hear the shrieks as we rushed up the small hill towards the hall. A rush of worry hit me as I remembered my family were in there and could be injured. Jinxx was ahead of me, holding my hand and I smiled.

What would happen when we got to the hall? Would Jinxx’s master give up? It seemed too easy. Perhaps, he had not been expecting Jinxx to succeed. I frowned when I realised we had stopped walking and tried to peer round to see if Jinxx was all right.

He had stopped dead and he body lurched forward. I gasped and rushed round to anchor him. His breathing was heavy and his blue eyes were wide. I placed a hand to his chest and recoiled in shock. His chest was warm, in fact he felt warm, like he was alive. Under my palm, I could feel the steady rhythm of a heart.

His body slumped to the ground and he took steadying breaths, clearly not used to having a heartbeat. It had been over a hundred years since he felt a heartbeat so the concept must have been foreign.

“Are you all right?” I tried to get him to look at me.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just not used to having a heartbeat.” He smiled, despite the pain.

He was human again. No more powers, no more sleep paralysis, but without the powers he would be useless against Baal. Jinxx heaved himself to his feet, gripping my hand again.

We got to the main hall and I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that everyone had vacated the premises. There were a few people, but they seemed to be unconscious. In the centre of the room was a monster.

It had gnarled teeth that overlapped its lips and mottled grey skin. It was at least seven feet tall and was glaring at us. This was Jinxx’s master. I stepped back a little. I felt Jinxx tighten his grip on my hand. He was glaring at the monster.

“The deal is off, Baal,” He shouted. “I’m human again.”

The demon, Baal looked furious. Rage was evident in its blood red eyes. I noticed Sean was standing across the way. He was looking at Baal, but was refusing to meet my eyes.

“You wretched, little human,” Baal seethed. “You weren’t supposed to succeed.”

“Well, I did. I want you to leave and never return.” Jinxx replied.

I, again, tried to look at Sean. Why was he siding with this creature? If the curse was broken then why was Baal so intent on staying? A part of me knew he hated losing, especially to humans.

“No, I cannot lose. You will return with me at once.” The demon hissed.

Jinxx shook his head, “I can’t. Humans can’t enter the pocket dimension.”

Baal stepped forward, grunting in anger. For the first time that evening his eyes landed on me. I shrank back and he grinned. It was a horrific sight.

With speed I didn’t know he had, the older demon lunged forward, angling his body at me. I heard myself scream. The pain didn’t come though as Jinxx blocked his path.

His body went flying and I rushed towards him, positioning myself over him to stop Baal from attacking again. The older demon stood and threw back his head, laughing haughtily.

“How precious, do you mean to defend him, human?” He growled at me.

I didn’t look away this time, instead I glared straight at Baal, showing as little fear as possible. My gaze fell on Sean. He was looking on piteously.

“Sean, please.” I begged.

This time he did respond and stepped forward, eyes narrowed into a glare.

“Ellie, this is for the best. He killed Kyle.” Sean spat.

I glanced down at Jinxx. He managed to sit up and narrowed his eyes at Sean.

“I didn’t kill Kyle.” He snapped. Sean shook his head in disbelief.

Baal sighed as though this was all a massive effort and turned to glare at Sean. I felt someone grasp my hand and looked at Jinxx.

“Run! Don’t worry about me.” He mumbled. I shook my head. I wasn’t going to leave him here.

“You stupid boy. This pathetic excuse for a demon didn’t kill your friend, I did. I took his form to do so, hoping your human surveillance cameras might have seen me, but alas, it failed.” Baal smirked.

I saw Sean’s face contort in horror and he looked at me. His eyes were suddenly apologetic. He, then narrowed his gaze at the demon.

“What’s wrong? Do you feel betrayed?” Baal chuckled.

Sean took one last look at us and his shoulders slumped.

“I want to make a deal with you.” Sean spoke suddenly.

Baal stopped laughing and turned to look at Sean properly. The demon seemed confused for once, but Sean looked determined.

“Don’t be foolish.” Baal dismissed him with a wave of his claw.

“I’m not. You can’t refuse a deal. I’ve done my research.” Sean grinned this time.

If Baal could become pale then I was fairly certain he would have in that moment. I opened my mouth to protest, but Sean silenced me with a glare.

“Leave them alone and you get my soul.” He held out his hand.

Baal’s clawed hand lifted and he seemed to be fighting to stop it. He, rather reluctantly shook Sean’s hand. Sean took one last look at us.

“Sorry for all the trouble, Ellie. I do care about you,” He smiled. “Take care of her.”

He nodded at Jinxx and vanished. Baal vanished shortly after, letting out a scream of anger. We were left in the hall, surrounded by ruined decorations.

“I think I may need to go hospital.” I glanced down at Jinxx. He removed his hand from his stomach, revealing a patch of blood.

Panic set in and dug around in my bag, using my phone to call an ambulance. It didn’t take long for them to arrive. I ended up going to the hospital with my, now, human boyfriend. Thankfully the wound wasn’t too deep.

Whilst in the waiting room I rang my parents to see if they were all right and to see if they’d seen Baal.

“Hey, Dad. Are you guys all right?” I asked, toying with my dress.

“Yes, princess. The people in charge said there’d been a gas leak. Very unsafe, really. They had to evacuate everyone.” He sounded all right. I could hear Mum raving about it in the back ground.

“Are you and Jeremy all right?” Dad shushed Mum so he could hear me.

“Yeah, Jeremy inhaled some of the gas so we’re at the hospital.” I responded.

After a brief chat I went to the room where Jinxx was and sat next to him. He was awake and tilted his head when I walked in. He was still as pale as ever, but it was more natural and there was a slight tint to his cheeks.

“Hey,” He smiled, reaching for me. I touched my hand to his.

“How are you feeling?” I ran my thumb across his knuckles.

“I’m fine. I want to leave, but they said I have to stay so they can monitor me.” He shifted to sit up.

“Just wait till morning and we’ll leave then.” I reassured him.

He shrugged and glanced round the small room. This must have felt so surreal for him. He had no passport, no family and nowhere to live. I enjoyed the idea of getting him a passport and my family would be his family. As for living arrangements, I wanted him to live with me. I would miss him too much.

“Will you still live with me?” I mumbled.

His blue eyes stopped analysing the room and locked on me. It still felt like he could see into my soul and he smirked.

“Yeah, I’d like to live with you. We might need a bigger bed, though.” He murmured.

“Figures, you’d think like that.” I giggled.

“You love it.” He retorted.

We stayed in silence for a moment and I looked into the hallway. I could hear people down the hall, talking and I could hear children screaming. Hospitals still freaked me out.

“Come and cuddle me.” Jinxx spoke suddenly and I glanced at him.

“I can’t. The nurses will get annoyed.” I blurted.

He shrugged, clearly not caring about that. He shifted his body across on the small, metal bed and motioned for me to climb on. I groaned and stood, shutting the door. I really didn’t want to get in trouble.

“We could get in trouble.” I pouted.

“You look so cute when you’re all annoyed. Besides, I’m poorly.” He smiled, coyly.

I climbed onto the bed and his arms wrapped around me. He was warm and I closed my eyes. This felt so right. The lights in the hallway dimmed and I panicked for a moment, but I relaxed when he pressed a kiss to my forehead.

“I love you.” I mumbled.

“I love you too, don’t worry, I’ll be here when you wake up. I’ll always be here.” I felt him smile against my hair.

My eyes felt heavy and I succumbed to sleep. We fell asleep like that. I woke a few hours later when the door opened. A young nurse poked her head in and smiled at us, then left again. We stayed cuddled up together till morning came and with the morning came a fresh start to our lives.

Notes