David took out his gun, but realized there was no use. Anamalech was gone, leaving the shuddering shaking atheists shocked and appalled. He looked around at those around him, and he shook his head. The situation was grim indeed.

Melanie Simms was dead. Suicide. Nine left.

Sarah was crying inconsolably, huddled into Serge's shoulder. Serge was patting her on the back, and muttering comforting words, but there was no feeling in them. His eyes were wide, gazing into the distance, but not seeing anything.

Dr. Nathan Hughes just kept shaking his head, eyes closed, whispering something. Science could not explain what had happened.

The others were acting much the same. Either shaking their heads, crying silently, or just standing there, still, as if unable to move. Millie had managed to wake Stewart up, and she helped him up, putting his arm around her shoulders. The smell of burning flesh was still in the air.

They were a scared and depressed group, cowed by something unimaginable and unthinkable. How do you fight a demon? How do you start believing after all these years? How can you not believe after such an event?

"Come on now." David called out nervously, sliding his gun back into its holster. "Gather around everyone." They slowly began making their way over, forming a circle of sorts. "We need....to think...Talk this over..." David said, wondering how to continue. How to talk about the horrible things that had transpired. He didn't want to talk about it. Didn't want to admit it was real. But they had to. They needed to rationalize it, figure it out, and make a plan. That's how David worked. That's how he lived. He needed structure. He needed a plan.

"What we need is help. The professional kind." A voice broke in, Doctor Hughes. "We've all obviously suffered-"

"Are you serious?" Stewart broke in, his voice incredulous, looking at the doctor as if he was mad. "Did you just see what **** happened or not?"

"Well..." The doctor replied, puffing out his chest, glaring at Stewart. "It was obviously a mass hallucination of some kind, perhaps brought on by the losses in our lives, or perhaps an illusion, perpetuated by-"

"Is anyone actually taking the doc seriously?" Stewart asked the others. The others seemed timid, quiet. They didn't want to talk. They felt content to let someone else speak, someone else talk about what had happened.  Stewart stepped forward and raised his burned arms to the doctor's  face, who recoiled in disgust by the sight and smell. "Does this seem fake to you, Doc? Let me tell you, the pain was real. These burns are real. And so is the rest of it." 

David stepped in between the two, hands raised. He slowly pushed Stewart back from Hughes. "Hey hey hey, let's calm down. It obviously happened." He turned to Hughes, who was about to object. "OBVIOUSLY." He said again, shutting the doctor up. He lowered his hands and looked around. "Now we have to figure out how to deal with it, what to do next..." 

"Next? It's a freaking demon! We're dead!" Sarah screamed. 

"There's no such thing as demons. Illusion. Or hallucination. Must be." The doctor of course.

"Prayer. We must pray. We must repent." Mr. Henderson kept repeating.

"What about the church? Isn't that a safe place?"  Beth said, glancing around nervously.

"I don't know if anywheres safe against a damnable demon." Serge said, shaking his head.

"But it's holy, sacred. Surely the demon can't-"Linda replied, waving her arms theatrically.

"Can't what! It's a **** demon for crying out loud! We're dead!" Sarah.

"There was no demon. Hallucinations. We were drugged. Only explanation." Doctor.

"Perhaps we should all take shelter in the church." Millie tried to talk to everyone. "We can sit and think there. Perhaps talk to the priest."

David nodded. "Perhaps that's the best place, for now. To rest and recuperate." Most began nodding their heads.  

"ENOUGH!" Stewart yelled, throwing his arms into the air. He was sick of this. "The church!?" He roared. "for years we've known the church was no sanctuary. Year's  we've turned down it's efforts to convert us. Now you're going back to it? You're going to suddenly believe?"

"What would you have us do?" Mr. Henderson yelled back, defending himself. "The demon told us we must change our belief's, or burn in hell. My Rose ain't in hell. I'm going to see my Rose." There were tears in Henderson's eyes.

"There's your first problem." Stewart said, shrugging his shoulders. "You're listening to a demon."

Millie walked over and grabbed his arm. "Just come with us. Help us figure this out. We need to stay together. Don't come to convert, just come to help eachother." She pleaded.

He shook his head. "If God had wanted to scare people into conversion, he would've done it a long time ago. This doesn't make sense. If there is a God, then he took what is most precious away. I cannot go to a place that worships him." He yanked his arm out of Millie's grasp, and headed off, back towards his house.

"You're just being stubborn!" She called out to him.

Stewart glanced back. "Always have, always will be." Even if it takes you to the depths of hell? He didn't know the answer to that question. He walked off.

"Stewart, wait!" David called out, but the man didn't even look back. David sighed. It was bad losing Stewart. Only seven left. "Oh well, perhaps he'll change his mind. He knows where to-"

"I've had quite enough of this." Doctor Nathan Hughes interrupted, wiping his hand, as if they were dirty. "Someone's been drugging us, or tricking us or both." He pointed at David. "I expect the police to find the criminal. I however, have patients I must attend to. Should've attended to hours ago. So long." The doctor began walking off.

"Doctor Hughes, wait!" David said hopelessly, but the doctor merely waved a hand. "Nathan!" He called out, but did not even recieve a wave this time. He wiped his face with his hands, and looked at the people gathered around him. Serge, Sarah, Henderson, Beth-Anne, and Linda Siezemore, all looking to him for leadership. 

"Well, let's go to the church."

***

Stewart sat at the kitchen table, laptop open in front of him, powering up. He had no idea where to even start looking for information, so he immediately went to google. He figured what the hell and just typed the demon's name in. Anamelech. He wasn't sure if that was the correct spelling, but there were matches. 

Wikipedia entry. He opened that up. Not much. 'In Christian demonology, Anamelech is a demon worshipped alongside Adramelech, the sun god. She takes the form of a quail. She is a lunar deity and is said to have been worshipped at Sepharvaun, an Assyrian town. The name means "Anu is king." ' Nope. That didn't click.

Occultipedia entry. He didn't even know occultipedia existed. He clicked and skimmed the page. Minor demon, bearer of bad news. Interesting. Anamalech was the demon charged with recruiting Cain's soul. Bearer of bad news, now soul-taker? Through visions and tricks, he was the one who convinced Cain to kill Abel. Very interesting. That was about the extent of the information there. Nothing said Anamalech was the son of Satan. 

He went back to the google search results. Nothing more there. Apparently Lord Anamalech had his own myspace. Well that was useful information.

Stewart sat back, putting his hands behind his head and sighing. It didn't add up. Minor demon who brought bad news was the son of Satan? And was torturing a group of ten atheists in his short time of power at Halloween so they would convert? Doubtful. More likely, Anamalech was lying, about one thing or another, tricking them into giving their souls to him. Demons always wanted souls, didn't they? He had taken Cain's soul, and now he wanted theirs. The question was, was there any way to stop him?

***

Doctor Nathan Hughes opened the door to his car and got in, shaking his head and muttering to himself about 'foolishness.' "Fools and tricksters, the lot of them!" He muttered, starting his car. He glanced in the rearview mirror, and Anamalech was there. He gasped, reached for the door handle, but realized it was locked. He hadn't locked it. He found his seatbelt was on, and tightened. He hadn't put it on. Anamalech said nothing, did not even move, he merely stared into the mirror at the Doctor's eyes.

In a panic, Nathan slammed his foot on the accelerator. He had to get away. Get away.

He tried to look through the windshield but found he could not tear his gaze away from Anamalech's eyes. He pressed on the brakes too late. The car slammed into a building. Doctor Nathan Hughes realized a split second before he hit that his seat belt was no longer on.

Anamalech stepped out of the back seat of the car and wiped his hands. He grinned. The others would be too scared to do anything but go to the church on halloween. That was where he would take them. All of them.