Chapter 1

Zed sat curled up in the armchair in the great room of the mill house, mindlessly sketching out a new vision that she had been seeing for a few days now. It was actually quite beautiful, she noted, as the charcoal lines came together to create a picturesque scene of pine trees high up on a hill top. She wasn't sure where this vision had come from, but she was glad that it wasn't the usual dark, intimidating visions that usually plagued her mind.

Across the room on the sofa sat John, sipping a glass of pale amber liquid and smoking a cigarette. He was leaning over a book on the coffee table in front of him, scanning the pages rapidly. Too rapid, in fact, to actually be reading. He didn't look up at Zed, and she didn't look at him.

But Chas was looking at both of them. As he sat in an armchair between the two, he glanced back and forth between John and Zed. The tension in the air was so heavy, he could have cut it with a knife. Zed seemed very focused on her sketch, and John on his spell book. But as Chas watched him closer, it became apparent that the exorcist wasn't really reading.

"Ahem," Chas cleared his throat in an attempt to break up the deafening, awkward silence. It had been nearly a month since Zed and John had returned from working the case with Detective Corrigan, and ever since, he noted, the two had barely exchanged a word with each other.

"Yes, Chas?" Zed asked, without looking up from her sketch. She had just started penciling in the flowing lines of a creek that cut through the pine trees on the hilltop.

Chas glanced over at John. He hadn't looked up from the spell book.

"Well," Chas started, glancing back and forth between the two of them, "I was looking at the paper the other day, and there's a headline about two women found murdered in the same alleyway not far from here."

"Prostitutes?" Zed asked. She still hadn't looked up.

Chas sighed. "Yes, but-"

"Not our thing, mate." John stated abruptly. He took a sip of whiskey, squashed the butt of his cigarette in a nearby ashtray and proceeded to light up another. All the while without averting his gaze from the spell book.

Silence fell between the three of them again. Chas looked hopelessly at his two friends, then finally stood up, shaking his head. "I don't know what's gotten into the two of you lately, but we can't just sit here all day doing nothing."

Zed shrugged, still sketching the flowing water of the creek. "I'm enjoying the down time."

Chas looked at John, but the exorcist didn't say anything. Defeated, Chas turned and headed back towards the kitchen to fix himself some coffee.

Meanwhile, Zed finished her sketch of the scenic mountaintop. From what she could tell, it was a very remote location, with dense trees and uneven terrain. She didn't recognize the scene at all, so she sighed and tossed the drawing on the seat of the armchair next to her. It was then that she looked up and stole a glance at John. He was puffing a cigarette, still reading the spell book. His eyes were narrowed, as if trying hard to focus on what he was reading. It was then that Zed remembered why she had avoided looking at him lately. When she looked at him, all she saw was the betrayed expression on his face when he had spotted her across the bar, just after Jim Corrigan had kissed her. She was pretty sure she had just imagined it anyway, but the idea that John might actually be jealous prompted her to avoid the subject—and him—altogether.

Zed stood up and made her way to the kitchen where Chas sat at the table, sipping his coffee and reading the newspaper. She sat down, and Chas motioned to the pot of hot brew on the table. "Coffee?" he offered.

She shook her head. "No thanks." Her eyes wandered over to the back of the newspaper in Chas's hands. "Still reading about those dead prostitutes?"

Chas chuckled. "Nah. John's right, it doesn't sound like our kind of thing."

Zed sighed. Though she was enjoying the down time, a part of her still wished there was some sort of case. It would be nice to leave the mill house and find a distraction from the tense, heavy air between her and John. Maybe they could just forget about the whole thing if there was a job to be done and people to save.

Chas laid down the newspaper and took a gulp of coffee. "Something's bound to pop up in this town sooner or later," he mused.

Zed didn't reply, but absentmindedly scanned the newspaper headlines from across the table. She saw the article Chas had mentioned about the murdered women, and then the adjacent article, stating that the police had a suspect in custody. Sure enough, she thought. Nothing otherworldly about another whack job killing prostitutes. She continued looking over the headlines until one in particular caught her eye:

FOREST FIRES STILL A MYSTERY FOR LOCAL GAME WARDENS

Zed reached across the table and grabbed the paper. She skimmed the article as Chas watched her, confused.

"What is it?" he asked.

Zed didn't reply immediately. Her brow furrowed and her lips moved silently as she read the article. Then she laid the paper down in front of Chas, pointing a finger at the image that went along with the article. It was an image of the same forest she had just sketched, only the trees were burnt black and the creek bed was dry.

"This," she said, tapping the photograph for emphasis. "I saw this exact mountaintop in my vision."

Chas looked at her, confused, then looked at the photo in front of him. "You had a vision of a forest fire?" he asked.

"I know it's weird," she said. "But that's exactly what I saw. I sketched it, too. And now the same exact place has gone up in flames? It can't be a coincidence."

Chas looked over the article, then back up at Zed. "You sure about this?"

She nodded. The fear and concern in her eyes told Chas there wasn't a doubt in her mind.

"Well, it's certainly worth looking into, then," he said. "We should talk to John and see what he thinks."

Zed stiffened as Chas mentioned John. "Er- Maybe you should talk to him," she suggested.

Chas eyed her with confusion. So his suspicions had been correct—Zed was purposely avoiding John. "What exactly happened with you two?" he questioned cautiously.

Zed glanced behind her shoulder, as if to make sure John wasn't standing there in the doorway. What had happened back in that bar? It should have been nothing, really. Was she not allowed to have a little fun every once in a while? Besides, Jim had kissed her. She had only kissed him back to be polite. The man was going to die, after all, and she couldn't exactly turn down an innocent kiss from a man who was just trying to make every moment count, as he had said. But she couldn't rid herself of the image of John watching her from the entrance, his eyes reflecting emotions she never would have imagined the arrogant, self-centered exorcist could feel.

After a long moment, Zed sighed. Chas was a trusted friend, and she hated to leave him in the dark about all the tense emotions in the mill house lately. She looked down at her lap. "Jim and I kissed," she said quietly, glancing up at him to observe his reaction.

"You and Jim?" Chas asked. "Detective Jim?"

She nodded.

Chas rolled his eyes and chuckled to himself. "So I take it John found out, then."

She nodded again.

Chas shook his head, still laughing. "John's like a child, sometimes. He'll get over it."

"I guess," she replied. John probably would get over it, but she hated to think that she had caused the rift between them. Then again, did he really have the right to be angry with her? Wasn't he always sleeping around with random girls?

Chas stood up and grabbed the newspaper off the table. "I'll go see what he has to say."

Zed sighed, then reluctantly stood up to follow him. It was at that moment that the kitchen began to blur and go dark. Zed froze in her tracks, watching as the refrigerator was replaced by a moonlit window, and a nearby counter top became a tall, oak dresser. She spun around, and her eyes fell on the small figure of a child, curled up asleep under a pink and yellow comforter.

As the clarity of the vision increased, Zed took a step towards the sleeping child. As she got closer, she could see it was a young girl, about seven or eight, with long brunette hair. As she watched the little girl sleep soundly, she shivered. The room had suddenly gotten very cold.

A sudden shattering of glass made Zed spin around to face the window. She stood, frozen in terror, as a thin, black figure made its way across the shattered threshold and into the young girl's room. A sudden, overpowering odor filled the room, like that of burning flesh. Zed couldn't make out any distinguishing features of the entity, but she did see claw-like fingers and the unmistakable glint of fangs. She tried to move towards the sleeping girl to protect her, but she couldn't move. The shadow figure took a step towards her, and now Zed could see yellow eyes. She wanted to scream, but her breath was caught in her chest. The figure closed in until it was in Zed's face, but then it walked straight through her, reaching out for the little girl, still sound asleep under the covers.

Zed could move now, and she spun around to watch helplessly as the black entity scooped the little girl up into its long, grotesque arms. The girl woke up then, and as soon as she saw the figure, she screamed bloody murder.

"Stop! No!" Zed shouted, moving to help the little girl. "Leave her be!" She screamed at the entity, but it was to no avail. She lifted an arm as if to reach out and hit the creature, but suddenly it was gone. The little girl's bedroom was replaced by the mill house kitchen. Zed blinked in the sudden light, and focused her eyes to meet John's concerned gaze. He was gripping her shoulders tightly, searching her expression for reassurance that she was there, with him, in the mill house.

"Zed, are you alright?" he asked, eyes glued to her.

As the vision melted away, Zed was able to focus on John. She absently noted that it was the first time in the last week or two he had actually looked her in the eyes. She noticed Chas knelt beside her, and realized that at some point during the horrifying event she had fallen on the floor.

"You okay?" John asked again. He turned to Chas. "Get her some water, will ya?"

Chas jumped up and headed for the kitchen cabinets.

Zed shivered. She couldn't shake the image of the dark entity and the horrible smell that had come with it. She looked at John still, and he could see the pure terror in her eyes. His concern for her grew, and for a brief moment, he forgot all about the incident at the bar.

"What did you see, love?" he asked quietly.