Deliver Us from Evil by Ralph Sarchie Read Free Book Online

ball—streak by.”
    There was only one pattern to the violence, the bride-to-be added. “When stuff happens to my mother, I usually get hit.” Seemingly worn out by the effort of getting these words out, she sagged wearily back in her chair. I could see what a toll this waking nightmare was taking on her: The circles under her eyes were as dark as bruises, and she spoke haltingly, like an old person with a chronic illness. Her fiancé gave her a comforting squeeze, only to have his hand brushed away as if it were an annoying insect.
    Although he seemed a bit stung by the rejection, Carl didn’t remark on it. Instead, to give us a better idea of Luciana’s suffering, he showed us a handwritten diary of the attacks he’d started keeping right after Dominick called the exorcist, hoping a written record would help with our investigation.
    Here’s how his tormented fiancée and her family spent Halloween night:
    Â Â Â 6:20 P.M. Luciana slapped twice in face.
    Â Â Â 8:03 P.M. Ashtray flew across bedroom.
    Â Â 11:28 P.M. L. scratched on stomach, in the shape of “N.”
    Â Â 11:31 P.M. L. pushed into wall.
    Â Â 11:39 P.M. Circle scratched on L.’s face.
    Â Â 11:46 P.M. L.’s head slammed against the table.
    Â Â 11:48 P.M. L. dragged off chair.
    Â Â 11:52 P.M. Heard growling.
    Â Â 11:56 P.M. Chair moves across dining room.
    Â 12:05 A.M. L. knocked into Ruth.
    Â Â Â 2:14 A.M. L. yanked out of bed.
    Â Â Â 2:16 A.M. L. punched in stomach.
    Â Â Â 2:17 A.M. L. pushed off chair again.
    Â Â Â 2:18 A.M. Flash of light, rotten egg smell.
    Â Â Â 3:15 A.M. L. hit on head with a shoe.
    Â Â Â 3:56 A.M. L.’s fingers pinched.
    Sitting up from the near stupor she’d fallen into as we were reading this, Luciana said that yesterday had been even worse. “I got really scared. The mattress I was sleeping on was lifted a foot or two in the air, and I was thrown to the floor. I saw something horrible, sitting there laughing at me. I’d seen it once before: a white creature that was hairy all over, with no eyes, just awful black eye sockets that stared and stared at me. I tried to kick it away from me—and it gave me the finger! Then it vanished!”
    The monster, now invisible, laughed again—a horrible snicker that raised every hair on Luciana’s body in dread. “Then something forced my legs open. I was trying to scream ‘Help!’ but no words came out of my mouth. It was like a nightmare. My father, Carl, and Ruth all tried to push my legs together, but they couldn’t. Then it let go.” Knowing how incredibly bizarre this sounded, she turned to her boyfriend in tears. “Carl—you saw it too! Right before it disappeared.”
    We’d gotten there just in time. This sickeningly perverse fiend was planning an incubus attack, the rape of a human female by a demon! This young woman had no idea of what a grotesque violation she’d so narrowly escaped! Had we not arrived when we did, there’s no doubt in my mind that she eventually would have been molested in an unspeakably vile manner.
    Carl confirmed everything she had said, then added that there had been other Halloween horrors. Turning to the next page in his diary, he described how he and his fiancée had gone out for cigarettes around 4:00 A.M. , since Gabby had run out. No one in the house could sleep, because the attacks were going on twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. That’s the M.O. of the demonic—when sleep is virtually nonexistent, the victims are constantly on edge, making it easy for the evil spirit to stir up discord between the exhausted family members. These strategies also help break down the will which enables possession to take place.
    While he was in the store and Luciana was waiting in the car, a rubber ball hanging from his rearview mirror spontaneously burst into flame.