Jennifer walked into her apartment and closed the door.  She leaned against it and slid down covering her face with her hands.  Shaking her head from side to side she stifled a scream.

I have just lived through a night on friggin’ Elm Street!

Pausing to take a deep breath, she moved her hands and looked up at the ceiling.

Did I really eat a man’s innards and eyeballs?

Long past the need to upchuck, Jennifer dry-heaved at what she thought she had done.  Furiously frustrated with herself and the situation she began to pawing at the beige rug as a mewling sound came from the depths of her soul but she refused to cry.  She had done too much of that in her youth. 

Dragging herself into the living room, she hauled herself onto the sofa.  On automatic, she reached for the remote and clicked on the wall-mounted flat screen TV.  Hunched over with her legs crossed, she put on New York One and watched for any mention of the three homicides she was a party to in the past twelve hours.  Barely able to process that she was now a serial killer, tears began to fall as she unconsciously rocked herself.

The Fury began to stir because of the waves of turmoil enveloping the demon.  Coming completely awake in an instant, the Fury circled the host’s mind gathering images of what transpired while it slept. 

Abatu witnessed the horrific images that would forever be imprinted upon the Jennifer host’s spirit.

The Fury tsked at the images of the disemboweled Derrick.  However, when it saw the memory of the two unmoving assailants on the darkened street corner, Abatu’s shriveled heart gave a leap.  Eagerly, the demon sniffed the memory.  It reeked almost entirely of self-defense. 

Abatu growled.  This host seemed to be as moral as the day was long!  The host’s only true taint was the murder of her Uncle when she was a child.  While it was also in self-defense, it had the taint of extreme emotion tipping that killing towards The Dark One’s side.  And, it was the best taint ever for the demon’s master.  The Jennifer host still held on to the hatred of her Uncle to this day.  The demon grinned.  As an adult, the host should have come to terms with all that had transpired.  But, the host hadn’t found her peace.  Abatu grinned broader loving the host’s weakness.

Abatu took another look at the host’s memory of the two men on the street corner.  From their unnaturally still splayed limbs, the demon knew they were most likely dead.

Refocusing on Jennifer, Abatu frowned.  At this rate, the host’s deepening state of shock would paralyze both of them within minutes.  With little choice, Abatu raced to Jennifer’s hippocampus, went directly to the lower portion and stroked the pulsating recent memory which emitted a faint white and a sharp maroon hue.  Abatu dislodged the memory and destroyed the host’s ability to access the problematic memory.  Going further, the demon isolated Jennifer’s recently accessed mental images of the dead men.  Abatu buried these images deeply in different sections of Jennifer’s brain.

Pulling back to assess its work, the demon was pleased.  Even if Jennifer was put under duress, she would not be able to retrieve the memories of Derrick, nor the two other men.  Unless extreme measures were used, Jennifer would have no knowledge of the three deaths nor her part in them. 

The Fury allowed the unconscious Jennifer to remain on the couch and it retreated into the background of the host’s mind once again.

***

Next Chapter: Chapter 10