Chattahoochee National Forest – December 1979

Erik reached out a hand and helped Lauren to her feet. They both panted heavily, exhausted from running around for the past half hour. The night sky provided hardly any light, thanks to the extremely thin fingernail crescent of moonlight that was barely visible in the sky. The thick crowd of trees blockaded what little moonlight there could have been. Armed with only a couple of flashlights, Erik and Lauren searched the immediate area. Random bursts of high-pitched laughter echoed around them, further frustrating them. Erik let loose a blood curdling masculine roar, channeling his anger at the situation. Lauren wrapped her dainty arms around his muscular frame, squeezing him tightly to calm him.

"Sweetie," she cooed softly, "don't let them get you like this. We need to stay focused so we can get this over with."

"Sorry," Erik said through gritted teeth. His breathing gradually normalized to a somewhat normal rhythm. He looked into Lauren's eyes and quickly calmed down. Thinking of her always made him feel at ease. He was lucky to have met her. "You're right…you're always right."

"Tell me something I don't know," she responded with a coy smile. "So let's just calm down, find this demon, and finish this so we can get back to our date night."

"Okay," Erik said, leaning down to kiss Lauren. His ears picked up a faint sound; something had been listening in on their conversation. A strong ringing resounded inside his head, alerting him to danger. "He's here. I can sense him close to here."

They moved back to back, giving them a combined three hundred sixty degree view of their immediate surroundings. They stood in an open area of forest, illuminated only by the waning crescent moon and their flashlights. It was a small clearing that was almost completely enclosed by majestic trees that seemed to stretch hundreds of feet into the sky. A trail had been worn through the area, leading from one patch of trees, into the clearing, to another patch of trees on the opposite side.

Erik's senses tipped him off again. He gently grabbed Lauren and turned her in his direction. They aimed their flashlights at a particular patch of trees that looked somewhat different from the others. There were five of them. They were shorter by far, and had a subtly different shade of color to their bark. The two cautiously tiptoed toward the trees to examine them more closely. Lauren squeezed Erik's hand; he pulled her in close to him for comfort. He moved in front of her and reached out to feel one of the tree's narrow trunks. It felt rough and jagged, as did the other trees. Lauren kept her flashlight trained on the tree, following Erik's hand as he examined its surface.

As he ran his fingers along the tree, he started to feel strange leathery spots along the sides of the trunk. He definitely thought it odd that trees had soft spots. He turned his own flashlight back to the front of the tree. He and Lauren looked closely at the lines of the bark; they seemed different from the other trees. Following the lines of the bark, Erik could almost make out human features. If he imagined it, he thought he saw a face, contorted in pain and stuck inside the tree.

"Can you see it?" he asked Lauren, tracing the outline of what he believed was a face carved into the tree.

"A human face?" Lauren said a bit skeptically. "That's kind of a stretch, don't you think?"

"I know," Erik insisted, "but I got a strong vibe from this tree, and the others that look like it. You know my hunches are never wrong."

"I know," Lauren confirmed with a smirk. "Just give me a second. I'm sure I'll be able to see it if I look hard enough."

"Well be my guest," Erik said, stepping back and letting Lauren take his place. He guided her olive colored fingers along the crevices that made up the ambiguous face. As he directed her perceptions, a sudden jolt in his senses caught his attention. Without warning, he grabbed her arm firmly and pushed her away from himself, as he leaned backwards and quickly landed on his back.

A dark green sphere struck the tree where Lauren's hand had just been. Looking up, Erik could swear he saw the face in the tree twist into a different expression as the green energy dissipated within it, momentarily illuminating it an eerie green color. Lauren, meanwhile, looked towards the source of the projectile. She saw what looked to be a man standing on the other side of the clearing, about thirty yards away, with his left arm outstretched. With the darkness of the forest, neither Erik nor Lauren could make out any distinctive features of the man. They both knew, however, that the man had just attacked them.

"See him?" Lauren asked, keeping her eyes on their assailant.

"Got him," Erik confirmed, both he and Lauren standing to their feet. "Ready?"

"Always, sweetie," Lauren said as her body quickly faded into the air.

"What do you want here?" the strange man shouted across the clearing. "This is not your turf. And where did the girl go?"

"That's none of your business," Erik replied in a deep menacing tone. "We've been tracking you for a while now and as for what we want, that should be pretty clear. You're the bad guy. We're the good guys. Do you need a minute to put two and two together?"

"Stupid witches," the man spat. "You're of no concern to me. I'm only interested in…"

Something cut his words short as he abruptly fell to the ground. Lauren's form quickly faded back into view as she moved towards Erik, keeping her eyes on the man. Erik laughed as the man fell, further enraging him. With catlike reflexes, the man swiftly sprang to his feet and leapt into the air on a crash course with Lauren. Her smile turned into a frown as her pace quickened. Erik ran to her aid, but he was still twenty yards away and the man was almost on her. She flicked her hands at the man and his quick pouncing suddenly became a snail-paced glide in the air, as if she had hit the slow motion button on a remote control.

Lauren took the opportunity and moved out of the path of the man, joining Erik in a matter of seconds. The sound of crunching leaves was the only sound to fill the empty night air. Erik ran forward and threw his body into the air, catching the man who was still stuck moving at an extremely slow pace. He wrapped both of his burly arms around the man and oriented the man's body beneath his so that he landed on him. They hit the ground hard, Erik maintaining his iron grip on the man's arms.

"You got the spell?" he called out to Lauren.

"Got it," she answered, fumbling in her pocket for a piece of paper. She reached for her flashlight and shone it on the spell she had copied. She made sure to read slowly but loudly so that the man could clearly hear her words.

"I call upon the powers to create this bond
That is nevermore to be undone…"

"Impossible," the man grunted as he thrashed about in Erik's grip. "You witches don't have the power to vanquish me!"

The man, hearing those words however, was overcome with both desperation and determination. Normally he was convinced that no witch could defeat him, but were these two up to something? He did not want to take any chances. He wrestled Erik and managed to turn his body so that he was no longer pinned under Erik's weight. Once free, he maneuvered his legs and twisted them around Erik's torso. He applied as much pressure as he could muster, and eventually Erik loosened his grip. It was all the man needed. With a loud grunt, he released his scissor hold and rolled backwards to safety, where he jumped to his feet once again. He wasted no time and unleashed a ball of dark green energy that crackled through the air, headed right for Erik.

"No!" Lauren shouted as she immediately let go of the paper with the spell. She reached out toward the energy ball and its rapid pace slowed down at once, along with the man who shot it, giving Erik ample time to avoid it.

Instead of moving out the way, Erik rose to his feet and stood his ground. As the energy ball approached, Erik crossed his arms over his chest. A bright blue light in the form of a circular shield came out of the cross made with his arms, gradually growing larger until it extended from his neck to his waist and reached from his left to his right. He looked to Lauren, nodding his head. As though they were on the same page, she nodded back, although hesitantly, and deactivated her power with a quick flick of her wrist.

The flickering green ball of energy resumed its normal rapid pace, headed on a crash course towards Erik. It struck the blue shield of light with a resounding force as Erik grunted through his teeth. Erik took a step back as he doubled his strength. The green energy ball spun around itself as it attempted to penetrate Erik's defensive shield. He thrust his arms forward and the light shield deflected the man's green attack back in his direction. Lauren ran and joined Erik as they watched the projectile strike the man full force. He was thrown back and slammed into the trunk of one of the taller trees in the forest. Flecks of dark green energy licked at his body as he slumped to the ground, dazed from being hit by his own attack.

"That didn't kill him?" Lauren asked Erik. "That was our main plan, to hit him with his own attack."

"Well we still have our other option," Erik said. "And since there's not a vanquishing spell, it looks like we don't have any other choice. We took a shot with this plan as it was."

"But if we do that," Lauren argued, "then all those trapped souls won't be freed. We were supposed to save them as well as vanquish this guy."

"I know," Erik replied, sighing. He embraced Lauren and kissed her forehead. "I know they won't be free. But remember what the Book said. It takes a great power to vanquish this demon and free the trapped souls. As strong as we are, and we're pretty strong, we…we might not have the combined power to do it."

"A Complete power?" Lauren asked. "What's more complete than you and me? Sweetie, we're newlyweds, we're both witches, and we're expecting a child. That is the definition of complete. Erik, we've got it all."

"I think so too," Erik said, "but I think we both know what 'Complete' power means. And as far as we both know, we're not them. Besides, they're three, not two."

For a minute, Lauren said nothing. She knew deep down that Erik was telling the truth. This Complete power of which he spoke involved three witches; she and Erik together did not possess that type of power. It was a legendary power that neither of them was willing to admit they did not have. They had completely fooled themselves thinking that together they could stop this particular demon. They both knew that their only hope was their other option. Lauren, hesitant at first but quickly soon after, ran back to where she dropped the paper and retrieved it. Rejoining Erik, together they read the words as the man, still in agony on the ground, protested.