Demons, a blur in white light, descended on those awaiting the next surprise and skillfully removed each spirits genitals with jagged machetes, rusted with blood. Without restraint, these unblessed souls suffered slow and excruciating agony while the hacking and carving took place.

Few noticed, amidst the absence of any tolerable pain, the melodic hum of peaceful yet throbbing symphony being played by skilled Agitators all around the circus of castration and defilement.

And in that moment, none other than Defilement himself appeared. He oversaw the operations and discarded the remains into a sea of blaspheming hell spawn on the first level, directly under the hot gates.

Defilement barked out Hell’s truth, amidst the removals, or as they considered them in Hell… de-purification. “Welcome to the abyss, our most beloved. I can’t thank you all enough for rejecting the One who could have saved you. You stupid morons had a choice and look what you ultimately chose?”

Using both massive hands, he cupped blood, as it pooled up to nearly his knees. He brought it to his black lips and consumed it heartily, with it pouring down his mighty chin.

Back on Earth, near the portal…

Murderous rage continued on the streets. Not one of The Gathering had learned control of the new body they inhabit, whether dual or themselves alone. The killings seemed par for the course.

Without inhabitance, the bodies would have just continued with their everyday lives. In this upgraded status, as Peter foretold, only chaos was at hand, nothing more and nothing less.

Savannah had been adept at foreseeing the horrid implications Peter’s plan would entail and she opted out. Her mind led her to believe that strange spirits in strange bodies is recipe for anarchy and death. She immediately vacated this place and sought home, only blocks away.

Savannah entered via a wall, as spirits do and saw her mother and two sisters singing songs by the piano, with mother fingering the keys. She inaudibly ascended to the second floor to see her third and eldest sister Marnie listening to music, with headphones snug to her ears.

Two thoughts entwined themselves like serpents in her mind’s eye as she gazed upon her beautiful sister sprawled out on her bed. Firstly, she envisioned inhabiting her body and co-existing with her soul, as she should recognize her younger sis Savannah. And secondly, if she didn’t, would only murder outbreak, like all the others?

Hope mounted as she delved deeper into the fantastic vision of her living happily inside her sister’s body, and everyone could know and speak freely to both of them. Maybe the success of this could end up as something of a famous scenario! Savannah pictured the paparazzi, the interviews, the accolades and the financial success her family so desperately needed.

Marnie lay on her back with eyes closed and body at full peace. Savannah levitated above her, maybe a foot above, waiting for her moment to move in.

Then, in a second that could never be taken back, Savannah’s younger sister April barged into the room and with a fireplace poker in hand, she raised it above Marnie’s still body with both fists.

Marnie’s eyes never opened until that first poke entered her stomach, straight through her lower back. The little hook got temporarily stuck on the pull back and April wrenched hard, spilling Marnie’s entrails in all directions across the bedroom.

In what felt like slow motion, Savannah moved to the side of the bed beside the door and watched with her jaw on the floor. Marnie was trying to speak, as purple blood pumped its way out of her mouth and her ears. Savannah held a dead stare glance at her dying sister, as though Marnie saw her there in the room. Savannah mouthed, “It’s over soon. I love you.”

Savannah watched as her eldest sister’s eyes glazed over, while the blood still exited her lifeless body. In that solitary moment, eyes glancing around the room, seeing the dark purple splatters of her life on every wall and covering her younger sis still wielding the weapon of destruction… in that moment, she lunged at April, passing through her flesh and entering her core.

Savannah spotted April’s soul first. The onslaught defied all logic. April’s soul balked; she recognized her sister immediately. Savannah wore no mercy on her sleeve as she tore into her like a maniac hell bent on murder. As Savannah burrowed herself inside her sister’s defenseless spirit, it imploded quickly, like water on an ember.

In a moment of terror filled clarity, Savannah’s soul took rest. And within that second of weakness, the dual soul, one of The Gathering, engaged her with sheer malevolence. A possible battle to the death ensued, with chunks of both apparition left inside her sister’s entrails. The Gathering spirits had made it further than she thought and all was thwarted.

After a death roll tumble, both spirits ceased and the momentum dissolved as Savannah realized whom the spirit she battled belonged to. Peter locked eyes with his one, true love, embedded deep inside what might have one day been his sister in law.