Things to Run Away From Really Fast

I try to banish a spirit in the name of God. It works about as well as you'd expect.

I'm at a train station, even though I'm sure that just a second ago, I was actually on my train. I shrug it off and try to get on the next one, but the conductor informs me that they don't allow dogs. I crouch down and hug my golden retriever, and we both stare up at him with sad puppy-eyes.

The man rolls his eyes and tells me that I'll be able to get on the next train. I thank him and walk back to the platform, where the people I'm travelling with are waiting. Fortunately, they have to wait for the next train as well.

We're on the train, but something's wrong. After a bit of investigation, we conclude that the entire train is haunted. Our team of Scooby-Doo-like investigators tracks it to its source - a bathroom in one of the sleeper cars.

I'm chanting nonsense Latin, "Omnipitus spiritus, omnipitus draco lux."* I repeat the chant, but it doesn't seem to be working. In fact, the haunting seems to be getting worse, black smoke sneaking in through cracks in the bathroom mirror.



The black smoke manifests over the vanity, and I catch a glimpse of a little boy in the mirror. The smoke lashes out at my companions, and distantly, I can sense the utter terror that they're beginning to feel. The girls are frozen, unable to move, and I...

I just feel hungry.

I've forgotten about the chant, and I fall silent and step toward the smoke. It shies away from me, tendrils retreating where I try to touch.

No, that won't do at all.

My hands lay at my side, but I'm latching onto the energy with my mind, pulling it toward me, devouring it. The black energy fades into my cloudy black and red aura, but I feel just a tiny wisp escape.

The girls are catatonic, and I ignore them, stepping silently through the train cars, looking for my quarry.

I see a white rabbit, my childhood pet, hopping through one of the train cars. I pick him up, but he starts squealing and twisting in my arms, trying to get away. He's scratching up my forearms and I wonder, dimly, if he's afraid of the dark presence that's been haunting the train.

No, I realize. The last wisp of the ghost has possessed my rabbit. I pull the last bit of dark energy out of the animal, and consume it. The rabbit goes still. I try to resurrect him, but organs start to leak out of his belly, and the stitching is coming apart.

***

"Can you help me?" says the boy.

I'm possessing a ten-year old. Go me. Apparently, the White Council is after us, probably for something I did. Apparently you're not supposed to kill people in this world?

Dresden comes back wearing some sort of ceremonial mask. I'm not paying attention, so the boy freaks out and runs away. He tries to hide in a storage closet, but Dresden catches the door and takes off his mask. "It's just me, kid." I take over and tell him that "I knew that".

I'm Dresden, now. I'm inside my office, talking to Murphy. I say something about the White Council. I'm about to do something really stupid, and it'll probably involve explosions.

Exorcisms. Scare Factor: 4.

*Apparently, this is really close to the actual exorcism I was going for: ""Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica..."