(A/N):
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Sajith's twisted body trembled violently.
CRRK— CRRRRACK—
SKKKKTTTT—
Cracks raced across his mummified skin like lightning.
His throat gurgled as if drowning in dust.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Jojo took one step closer.
Inadu's grip tightened.
Caroline braced herself.
And just when the creature seemed ready to speak—
SHHHHHRRRRIIIIP—
Its entire face split open.
A black, tar-like energy surged up its throat.
Sajith—
No, the thing puppeteering him—
Let out one ecstatic, fevered shriek.
"YES! AT LAST—THE GOD CALLS ME HOME!I RETURN TO HIS EMBRACE!"
Its limbs twisted into unnatural shapes—
And then, with a deafening
BOOOOOOM—
Sajith's entire body exploded into dust.
Not a bone.
Not a drop of blood.
Not even a single hair remained.
Just a hollow echo, swallowed by silence.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Then the room changed.
WHOOOOOOM—
The temperature plunged so fast their breath turned white.
The air conditioner switched on by itself,
Vents blasting out freezing, unnatural cold.
The walls frosted instantly.
Raghavan, Vimal and Srinivasan huddled together, teeth chattering.
Caroline's vampiric senses sharpened.
She hissed softly, instincts warning her to move back.
Inadu's body stiffened.
Her black eyes widened—
Not in fear, but in recognition.
"He's here…"
She whispered.
Jojo slowly turned his head toward the far corner of the room.
Inadu turned at the exact same moment.
Because both of them felt it.
A presence that didn't belong to the living—
Or the dead.
Something older.
And then they saw him.
Sitting on a dusty old couch like he had been waiting centuries.
"...."
A European man, wearing clothing from a bygone era—
A lavish merchant's coat, lined with gold thread, stained with old soot.
One half of his old face was handsome, aristocratic…the other half was a melted ruin—
A red, blistered burn, stretching from scalp to jaw.
In his hands, he held an old flintlock rifle, tapping its butt against the floor.
Thump.
Thump. Thump.
With each hit, frost spread across the tiles.
His boots left red, sooty marks with every shift of movement.
Demontee —
Finally rose.
He sneered, revealing sharp, blackened teeth.
Sneer~
"...."
His burned eye glowed faintly like a dying ember.
Demonte stepped forward,
Boots cracking the frost spreading across the apartment floor.
Thud. Thud.
Thud. Thud.
His burned lips peeled back as he growled in Portuguese.
"Preparar para morrer." (Prepare to die.)
The temperature plunged even further.
An icy sheet spread across the walls.
The three friends stumbled back, shivering.
But Jojo didn't move back.
Jojo stepped forward.
FOOOOM—
With a violent puff of black smoke,
The room erupted in red fire.
Spines of flame crawled across Jojo's arms.
His skin peeled away
—Revealing burning bone.
His skull ignited.
Chains rattled across the tile like steel serpents.
He became THE GHOST RIDER.
Demonte faltered.
"...."
For the first time, uncertainty flickered across his melted face.
The air warped.
A thick black mist burst from Demonte's body—
His attempt to vanish, to teleport, to escape.
But the mist hadn't even fully formed when—
WHOOSH—
Ghost Rider blurred through the snow-frosted air,
Speed unnatural, movement inhuman.
In a single, ruthless motion—
KRACK—
A flaming skeletal hand clamped around Demonte's throat.
"...."
Lifting him effortlessly off the ground, frost melting beneath their feet.
Ghost Rider leaned close, fiery sockets burning with judgment.
"LOOK INTO MY EYES."
The penance stare ignited—
He was trying to judge the sins.
Demonte's head snapped back violently—
But then…
Nothing.
"...."
"...."
"...."
No screams.
No visions.
No agony.
No guilt.
Nothing.
The hellfire simply judged that the Demonte who Ghost Rider was holding was just an empty shell.
Demonte smiled—
"...."
A horrifying, cracked smile.
Ghost Rider tightened his grip.
"NO PENANCE?"
A deeper, darker growl followed.
"THAT MEANS ONE THING…"
Demonte's burned eye glowed with sick joy,
As if savoring Ghost Rider's realization.
Ghost Rider snarled.
"…YOU HAVE NO SOUL."
The temperature dropped again—
So cold frost tries to extinguish the hell fire.
Inadu's eyes widened surprised who would have thought they would meet a similar case as creeper.
Caroline too was stunned.
"...."
The three friends nearly fainted.
Ghost Rider leaned closer, voice shaking the walls:
"WHAT HAPPENED TO IT? DID YOUR 'GOD' DEVOUR IT? OR DID YOU OFFER YOURSELF AS FOOD?"
Demonte didn't resist.
He whispered, broken lips twisting.
"Alma…? Minha alma… belongs to the King…"
He tapped his burned chest.
"…the Uncrowned Blind King. He keeps what is his."
Ghost Rider's flames flared hotter.
The creature's flesh blistered under the heat,
But he didn't scream—
"...."
He couldn't.
There was nothing human left inside him.
Just like Sajith's cursed body burst apart like brittle clay—
Shattering into dust that scattered across the frozen room.
But Ghost Rider didn't flinch.
His burning skull tilted slightly… listening.
Because he knew.
THAT CREATURE WASN'T DEAD.
Only the body was destroyed.
The soul—
What little of it remained—
Was not here.
It had already crawled back through the crack in the veil.
Back to whatever hellish domain it came from.
AND IT WOULD RETURN.
With a new body.
Stronger.
Hungrier.
As the last fragments of Demonte's dust hit the floor,
The black cube—
The suffocating spiritual seal around the apartment—
Finally dispersed.
The air warmed.
The frost melted.
But one thing changed nothing.
Demonte's black mist peeled away from the walls…
Then suddenly rushed back toward Raghavan.
"Wh—WHAT THE—?!"
Raghavan shrieked as the mist slid into the pocket of his jeans like a snake.
He jumped back,
Slapping his thigh in panic—
But the mist wasn't attacking.
It simply settled, retreating deep inside the cloth…
…and disappeared.
A quiet dread filled the room.
When Raghavan slowly raised his head,
He found Ghost Rider, Inadu, Caroline, and the remaining two friends staring at him.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Their expressions were all different—
Fear, Concern, Confusion and Ghost Rider's burning wrath.
Raghavan swallowed hard, voice trembling.
"W–What just happened…? Wh–why was that… thing… inside me?"
Ghost Rider didn't move.
"...."
The flames in his skull roared brighter.
He took one slow, deliberate step forward—
THUMP.
The floor cracked under his foot.
Another step—
THUMP.
And suddenly—
WHOOM—
Ghost Rider was standing right in front of Raghavan.
So close Raghavan could feel the heat scorching his hair.
"ANSWER."
Ghost Rider's voice echoed like a furnace.
"DID YOU TAKE ANYTHING FROM A PLACE YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE?"
Raghavan's breath caught.
His fingers twitched.
Instinctively—
They slipped toward his pocket.
He froze mid-motion,
Feeling the weight inside.
Feeling something cold.
Something wrong.
The room had gone dead silent.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Finally—shaking—
Raghavan reached into his jeans and pulled it out.
A big gold pendant on a thin chain.
Its surface was tarnished.
Old. Cold.
And the moment it touched air,
A faint unnatural chill rippled across the room.
Caroline stepped forward.
Inadu's eyes narrowed.
Srinivasan whimpered.
Vimal cursed quietly under his breath.
Because on the pendant was an engraved shape—
A man and a woman.
Holding each other's hands.
The engraving was unmistakable.
Demonte. And his wife.
Inadu hissed,
"A cursed relic…"
Ghost Rider lowered his flaming skull toward it.
The shadows across the room shrank back from him.
"THIS."
His voice was deep, molten.
"IS A BINDING TOKEN."
Raghavan's knees buckled.
"What—what does that mean?"
Ghost Rider lifted his burning hand close to the pendant—
The flames bending away from it like it was swallowing the fire.
"YOU DIDN'T JUST TAKE AN OBJECT."
A pause.
A growl.
"YOU TOOK A PIECE OF DEMONTE'S POSSESSION WHICH SEEMS TO BE CONNECTED WITH FAR MOREGREATER POWER THAN HIM PROBABLY THE ONE THEY WERE WORSHIPPING."
Raghavan's heart lurched.
The three friends stared at him with pure terror.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Ghost Rider straightened, the flames rising higher.
"AND NOW…"
He turned his skull toward the apartment door, sensing the tremor in the veil.
"HE WILL COME FOR YOU."
Srinivasan and Vimal spun toward Raghavan,
Faces twisted in shock and fury.
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!"
Srinivasan roared.
Vimal grabbed Raghavan by the collar.
"Why would you take something from that place?! Are you trying to get us all killed?!"
Raghavan's face crumpled with guilt and fear.
"I—I didn't know! I thought it was just an old antique! I took it for research… for my script. I swear I didn't know it was cursed—"
SMACK!
Srinivasan's slap echoed through the cold room.
"You've doomed all of us… because of some stupid movie?!"
His voice cracked with anger and fear.
Raghavan looked down, trembling.
"That day… in Demonte Colony… after we scared Sajith… I went upstairs. I found a cupboard buried under dust. Inside was this pendant. I thought it was… something Demonte's family wore. A prop. That's all."
Ghost Rider's hellfire eyes flickered—
Listening.
Raghavan swallowed and continued, voice small.
"I researched everything for my film. I know the whole story… but I never thought it was real…"
He stepped back, leaning against the wall, breath shaky.
"Demonte… he wasn't born a monster,"
Raghavan said quietly, staring at the pendant.
The room fell silent.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Even Ghost Rider stood still—
Flames dimming just a little,
As if letting him speak.
Raghavan's voice softened,
Drifting into the tale like he was narrating his script.
"Back in the early 1900s…
Demonte was a wealthy Portuguese merchant.
Known across Madras for his kindness.
Charity, donations, shelters…
The poor used to pray for him.
He married a woman he deeply loved…
But she became handicapped after complications during childbirth.
Still… he adored her.
Protected her.
He even built Demonte Colony so she could live peacefully… away from the noise of the main city."
Srinivasan and Vimal listened in silence now—
"...."
"...."
Anger melting into unease.
Raghavan continued:
"Then his only son… his pride… his world…
He drowned in the sea when the ship he was traveling on sank in a storm."
His voice shook.
"Demonte broke that day. Something inside him died. He never recovered."
Raghavan closed his eyes.
"That's when it happened. While Demonte was mourning and was in a business trip… one of his own workers raped his wife."
Caroline's expression hardened.
Inadu's eyes flashed with dark fury.
"The nurse who cared for her… told Demonte the truth."
Raghavan's hands trembled as he spoke.
"And Demonte… lost his mind completely."
The air grew heavier.
"He slaughtered the worker first. Then the nurse. Then every servant in the bungalow."
Vimal's voice cracked.
"He killed everyone?"
Raghavan nodded slowly.
Nod~
"Everyone except one survivor—a small boy who hid behind the cupboard."
He swallowed.
"The boy ran to the town and told the people what he saw. The entire neighborhood gathered with torches and weapons… came to kill Demonte for murdering his own staff."
Jojo already knew where the story was going.
Raghavan whispered.
"When Demonte heard them break down the door… he wasn't scared. He only thought about one thing."
His voice became distant.
Hollow.
"He held the rifle. Stamped it on the floor. Thinking… thinking about what he had lost."
Raghavan's eyes filled with dread.
"And just before they stormed in… Demonte shot the gas cylinder."
Srinivasan gasped.
"The entire bungalow exploded,"
Raghavan said softly.
"Killing Demonte… every servant's body… and several villagers outside."
The room fell into a suffocating silence.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Only Ghost Rider's flames breathed.
Raghavan looked up slowly, eyes wide and haunted.
"And since that night… They say Demonte's spirit never left. He waited. For decades. For anyone foolish enough to disturb his remains…"
His hand tightened on the pendant.
"And I… I brought his wife's pendant with me…"
Ghost Rider stepped forward, flames flaring.
Raghavan's breath hitched.
Ghost Rider's voice thundered across the room:
"YOU DIDN'T BRING A PENDANT."
He pointed at the golden chain.
"YOU BROUGHT DEMONTE'S PAIN."
The three friends froze.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Jojo leaned closer, fire reflecting in the gold.
"AND NOW DEMONTE KNOWS WHERE YOU ARE."
Srinivasan's rage snapped.
Before anyone could react—
SMACK!
His palm crashed across Raghavan's cheek,
Twisting his head sideways.
"YOU KNOW THIS ENTIRE STORY… AND YOU STILL TOOK THAT DAMN THING?!"
Raghavan stumbled back, clutching his burning cheek.
"...."
But Srinivasan wasn't done.
SMACK!
Another slap hit harder than the first—
Rage, terror, grief all exploding at once.
"...."
"Sajith is DEAD because of you!"
Srinivasan shouted, voice cracking.
"You dragged something cursed into our house—knowing it was dangerous! Knowing it was connected to DEMONTE!"
Raghavan's knees weakened.
Vimal grabbed him by the shirt and shook him.
"Do you even understand what you've done?! We trusted you! You said this was just research for your stupid horror script—AND YOU BROUGHT HIS PENDANT HERE?!"
Raghavan's lips trembled, eyes flooding.
"I… I didn't know it was real… I didn't know he—he would follow us—"
"SHUT UP!"
Srinivasan barked.
"Sajith followed us inside that house because of our joke. He cried for help while WE laughed. And now look at what's left of him. NOTHING!"
Raghavan collapsed to his knees, shaking.
Caroline looked away, unable to watch.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Inadu's eyes darkened—
She understood guilt,
The weight of mistakes,
But this was recklessness with deadly consequences.
Ghost Rider watched silently.
Fire rippled across his skull—
Responding not to rage,
But to truth.
Raghavan looked up slowly at Jojo's burning form.
Tears streaked down his face.
"I didn't mean to kill him… I just… thought it would be a fun story. A real-life location for my movie. I didn't… I didn't know we would awaken something."
Srinivasan dropped to a chair, head in hands.
Vimal's chest heaved, fighting tears.
For a long moment, only guilt filled the air.
Then—
Ghost Rider stepped closer.
The flames around him dimmed into a deep ember glow—
Not softer, But colder.
He lowered his skull to meet Raghavan's eyes.
"INTENT DOES NOT ERASE CONSEQUENCE."
Ghost Rider's voice shook the room softly.
Raghavan swallowed painfully.
Gulp~
"BUT YOUR GUILT…"
The flames flickered.
"…SHOWS YOU ARE STILL HUMAN."
Srinivasan looked up sharply.
Vimal's anger faltered.
Raghavan bowed his head, trembling harder.
Ghost Rider continued.
"DEMONTE IS NOT AFTER YOUR LIFE."
His flaming hand pointed at the pendant.
"HE IS AFTER WHAT YOU TOOK."
Srinivasan whispered, voice shaking:
"What… what does he want?"
Ghost Rider's flames roared high,
Casting shadows across the walls.
"HIS WIFE'S PENDENT BUT I THINK THERE IS MORE TO THIS STORY THAN WE KNEW."
Raghavan's eyes widened.
"The pendant… it belonged to her…"
Ghost Rider nodded.
Nod~
"DEMONTE DON'T HAVE A SOUL NOW PROBABLY TRAPPED OR SOLD TO SOME POWERFUL DEMON…"
He turned toward the window—
Toward the outside darkness.
Wind howled.
"…WE NEED TO FIND OUT WHAT WAS THE TRUE STORY BEHIND DEMONTE."
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(Author's POV)
(A/N):
Thanks for reading the chapter!
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