“He's going to kill people because he thinks God told him to?” said Irene as she paced furiously in her bedroom, “Of course a spirit would impersonate the Christian God to convince someone to murder. After all, this God told his people to commit genocide in the Bible! This is another reason I'm so sick of Christianity.”

  Damian didn't know how to react to her outrage, but it didn't matter, since he was invisible. He finished updating her of all the details, saying into her ear, “He already got Aliyah and Cody.”

  “Oh,” said Irene, calming down very quickly as she sat on her bed. Her face transitioned between several emotions, as she realized that blood had already been shed, feeling some guilty relief that they were people she had disliked from high school.

  “Luckily, he's not after you as of yet,” said Damian, “I saw his phone before we left, and it looked like he was after someone named Ashley.”

  “I think that's Cody's girlfriend. All three of them were so annoying and shallow,” said Irene, “but so are most people in high school, and they don't deserve to die.” This was very hard for her to say as she remembered what Aliyah had done to Brittany.

  “Steve is already calling for several other spirits to try to stop Michael,” said Damian.

  “Wait, who's Steve?” asked Irene.

  “He's your guardian a–,” Damian stopped mid-sentence as he remembered he was trying to keep Steve's involvement secret, but it was too late.

  Irene's eyes widened as she remembered the angel from her dream the previous night. “So that wasn't just a dream,” she said as she began to recall more details from that surreal conversation, “I thought I told him to leave me alone.”

  “You did,” said Damian, “That's actually why he involved me, since he knew you wouldn't listen to him.” He figured he might as well come out clean right now, since she'd probably figure it out soon enough.

  Irene looked betrayed for a second but then said, “But it's really you, right?”

  “Yeah, I'm the same person who shared Economics class with you,” said Damian as he positioned himself so she'd be able to see his reflection through the mirror.

  “Well, I guess he can't be all bad if he's friends with you,” said Irene as she remembered how much she liked him. She wished so much that he could still be alive, so he could be with her right now. Then, she had a thought and said, “Wouldn't I be able to be with you forever if I died?”

  “Unfortunately, I think it's more complicated than that,” said Damian.

  Irene looked a little disappointed but not surprised. As her mind went back to the situation of Michael's murdering spree, she said, “We need to stop him.”

  “What?” said Damian.

  “Michael,” said Irene, “We should go stop him. Angels can't do squat. I remember that angel telling me they had all their reinforcements trying to protect Brittany and look what happened to her!”

  Damian reflected on his own death and admitted, “Steve didn't do a very good job of keeping me safe when he was my guardian. He couldn't even stop that demon from possessing my dead body without getting your mom's help.” He tried to think of something that didn't put Irene's life at risk and suggested, “Why don't we just call the police?”

  “Haven't you watched the news?” said Irene, “Those pigs are racist! They'd probably kill Ashley by mistake, since Michael's white, and she's not.”

  “But what could we do?” asked Damian, “I'm a ghost, and you have a huge target on your back, inciting countless demons to destroy you.”

  Irene took out her wand. “I have this, the power of magic, on my side. I can use everything I've learned from my studies in the past 6 months to stop them. And we have a faerie on our side too! I think Shae has proved herself to be a lot more competent than those angels. Where is she anyways?” Irene looked around the room, hoping to see her floating in some corner where no one was looking.

  “Hey,” said the faerie laying on her back as her body floated up through the bedroom floor, a magazine in her hands, “Don't worry, I heard everything. I'm all in. Let's take down that maniac.”

  “I can drive,” said a familiar voice, and they all looked to the corner of the room and saw Steve wearing his paramedic outfit.

  Damian whispered at Steve, “Won't this put Irene at serious risk?”

  Steve replied, “I talked to my highest supervisor, and this is actually our best bet, for Irene and everyone else” Seeing Damian's puzzled look, he said, “You're just gonna have to trust me. I can explain it when it's all over.”

  ***

  When they got to the movie theater, Steve drove the ambulance around the perimeter, while Shae and Damian flew out to search for any sign of Michael or other evil spirits. Steve and Irene were mostly silent when they were alone in the ambulance, only speaking if absolutely necessary.

  Meanwhile, Josh Vincent and Officer Carlos were on their way to the movie theater as well. When they had talked to Cody's parents, they found out he had been dating a girl named Ashley. Figuring that she could be another possible target, they went to her house only to discover that she had just left to meet Cody at the movies, unaware that he was recently deceased. They tried calling her, but it went straight to voicemail.

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  When they drove around the front of the theater, they scanned the area for Ashley but didn't see her, so they headed to the parking garage to see if they could find the car she had taken. They looked for a white Honda Civic with the appropriate license plate. When they got to the top level, they saw the car, and Ashley was inside watching a video on her phone. They immediately tried to get out, but their doors would not open. Even their seat belts could not be taken off.

  “What's wrong with your car?” Josh asked Carlos.

  “I don't know, this has never happened before,” said Carlos.

  “Here, I have a knife,” said Josh as he handed it to Carlos. He didn't want to be the first one to destroy something in his friend's police car.

  Carlos grabbed it and cut the seat belt as quickly as he could and gave it back to Josh to do the same. However, the doors still could not be opened, so Carlos grabbed a baton from his belt and began to try to smash the window open. Ashley couldn't hear them banging the window due to the music from the video she was watching.

  In the spiritual realm, Geoff's interns held the doors shut as long as they could while Geoff was inside of Ashley's car, whispering lies into her ear.

  “Look at that!” said Damian to Shae, as they flew above the garage. He pointed to the two intern spirits around the police car.

  “I'll get them,” said Shae as she aimed an arrow at them with her bow, but before she could shoot at her target, a fiery dart pierced her hand, causing her to drop her weapon.

  “You stay away from my interns!” said Geoff as he continued aiming his dartgun at the faerie while he sat on top of Ashley's Honda Civic. He looked over at the police car and saw that they had almost broken the windshield enough to get out. “Possess the glass,” Geoff commanded one of his interns.

  One of the intern spirits went inside of the glass, making it unbreakable. No matter how hard Carlos or Josh tried to hit it, it would not break. But they kept trying.

  “Steve, where are you?” Damian asked through his earpiece.

  “We're on the fourth level. Should be there in a minute,” said Steve, “A couple other angels should be arriving right now.”

  Michael had been hiding underneath the van beside Ashley's car, holding his black dagger tight in his hand. He was sweating profusely. It had been hard enough to kill his first two victims, and it was not getting any easier. He just kept reminding himself that this is what God commanded him to do.

  While still under the van, Michael suddenly had a vision of a magnificent angelic being flying in front of him. “Don't do it!” the angel said. It was Michael's guardian angel, Robert, although Michael didn't know it.

  Geoff, wearing his white robe with his face shining, appeared beside Michael, and calmly told him, “Satan transforms himself into an angel of light, but he contradicts my commandments. Don't listen to him.” Geoff snapped his fingers, and instantly Michael's perception changed. Now to the teenager, the angelic wings of Robert looked like bat wings, and the halo was replaced with a set of demonic horns.

  “Get behind me, Satan!” said Geoff, and he shot a stream of flames from his hands into Robert, who fell backward. The evil spirit turned back to face Michael and said, “I have verified that Ashley Garcia has lost her faith. Now do what must be done, so she may suffer for her sins.”

  Steve's ambulance finally arrived on the level, blaring the siren as it approached them. This alerted Ashley, who looked up from her phone, tears in her eyes after having just finished the video that destroyed her belief in God.

  Several evil spirits immediately entered the parking garage, all seeking to take Irene's life to satisfy the bounty from Samael. Shae had picked up her bow and was ready to fight. Damian helped the angel Robert up from off of the ground, and they pulled out their weapons. Another angel, Fred, flew down beside them, with an angelic assault rifle.

  Steve parked the ambulance behind Ashley's car, and Irene hopped out. She quickly got into the back seat of the Honda Civic and said, “Ashley!”

  Ashley screamed as she looked around.

  “I'm sorry, I'm sorry,” said Irene, realizing it wasn't smart to sneak into someone's car and yell their name from behind them.

  “Who are you?” asked Ashley.

  “We had math class together last year, it's Irene,” she said, “I'm sorry for sneaking up on you, but someone's trying to kill you!”

  “Huh?” said Ashley, “Why?”

  “It's complicated,” said Irene, “He already killed Cody.”

  “But I was just texting h–,” said Ashley, but then she looked back at her cellphone, realizing that she had been texting a stranger the whole night, thinking it was Cody.

  Irene saw a movement in the corner of her eye. “Lock the doors!” she said, and Ashley immediately pushed the button that locked everything.

  A second later, all the doors unlocked again. Ashley pushed the button again to lock it, but they immediately unlocked afterward.

  Irene saw Michael in his black hooded jacket outside, with a black dagger in his hand. “Start the car!” said Irene.

  Geoff's interns had disconnected the engine from the vehicle, so it would not start. Seeing it was no use, Irene got out of the car and pulled out her wand, aiming it at Michael.

  “Don't take another step,” she said.

  “Irene, what are you doing here?” asked Michael.

  “I'm here to stop you from hurting her,” said Irene.

  “I don't want to,” said Michael, “but it's God's will.”

  “It's an evil spirit impersonating God,” said Irene.

  “If you're doing witchcraft, you're the one working with evil spirits,” said Michael, “I have the Bible and God's Spirit on my side. I don't have anything personally against you, and you were nice to me earlier today so please just let me do this. It's for something bigger than anything you or I could comprehend.” He reached to open the car door. Ashley was trying desperately to get out on the other side, but one of the interns was holding it shut.

  Irene tried chanting every offensive spell she could think of to stop him, but nothing happened. She didn't expect sparks to fly out of her wand, but she had hoped something would have occurred to slow him down.

  As Michael opened the door, Irene sprinted towards him and tackled him from the back, knocking him over inside the car. Ashley used this opportunity to get out, climbing over them, and she ran to a nearby staircase.

  During this time, Shae and Damian had finally taken care of Geoff's other intern, so Josh Vincent and Officer Carlos were able to get out of the police car.

  In the Honda Civic, Michael got out from Irene's grasp and opened the other door to get outside. “Irene, why'd you have to get in my way?” said Michael, “You should have minded your own business!”

  Irene remained motionless, laying face down across the front seats.

  Michael moved over to look at her and noticed a cut on her right arm that had been from the black dagger. It was a small wound, but there were several tiny black veins popping out around it.

  Geoff put his hand on Michael's shoulder. “The Devil sent her to stop you,” said Geoff, “to prevent my divine justice from being executed. Now she will receive the penalty for her sin in hell.”

  Shae flew over to examine Irene's body. “Damn, I guess I'm not getting paid for this job,” said the faerie.

  Officer Carlos and the former youth pastor approached Michael. The officer had pulled out his pistol and gestured for the teenager to turn around so he could handcuff him.

  Michael cooperated with them, and the police officer picked up his radio to call for another unit to come over, since Carlos's police car didn't have a windshield. When the officer looked through Michael's backpack, he saw the tablet with the atheist video. “Hey, check this out,” Carlos called to his friend.

  “Oh I've seen that video before,” said Josh Vincent, “It's decent, but I think there's better videos if someone wants to make a case for atheism.”

  When Mr. Vincent stepped near, Michael noticed that the robed spirit revulsed and couldn't bear to look at the cross necklace worn by the former youth pastor. An overwhelming sense of despair filled Michael, as he began to realize that this being was not God at all.