Chapter Text
Louis broke the salt strip and backed away quickly until he was in front of Harry again, his back to him.
The door flew open suddenly and violently, slamming against the wall and causing a gust of wind.
They flinched as they heard the sound of glass breaking. Turning around, Louis noticed that the strip of salt on the window had been broken by the wind and the wave of black smoke coming dangerously close to the motel.
He turned back again, bringing his gaze forward and watching his mother, who stood between him and Azazel, the demon, looking determined and decidedly pissed off.
“Mary, my dear, been a while,” Azazel said, giving her a wicked smile as his eyes turned black.
“Leave my son alone,” Mary hissed, opening her arms and tilting her head back.
A strong, blinding white light emanated from her body, making Louis close his eyes and turning away from it. Forcing himself to open them again, he crossed Harry's gaze, then grabbed him violently by the arm in which he was holding the journal.
“Harry!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, looking over his shoulder and catching a glimpse of his mother's body in the blinding light and the demons fighting their way into the room.
He pushed Harry to the back of the room, causing him to hit the wall and standing in front of him to protect him.
“Read, damn it!” he shouted again, grabbing Harry by the shoulders and shaking him forcefully in an attempt to help him recover from the shock and horror that was written all over his face.
When Harry met his gaze, he seemed to regain some clarity, then glanced over Louis’ shoulder, widening his eyes again. As Louis turned around, he noticed that the light was dimming and Azazel and a few other demons were only a few steps away from them.
“Louis, you do realize that you have nowhere to go, right? It will be my great pleasure to,”
“Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus,” Harry said suddenly, and the moment he pronounced those words, every demon in the room froze, fear written all over their faces.
“Go on,” Louis muttered, watching as the demons shook their bodies before walking back towards them.
“Omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis congregatio et- et secta diabolica,” Harry pronounced in a more determined voice, probably spurred on by the fact that it seemed to be working.
“No!” Azazel growled through clenched teeth before screaming in rage and lunging at Louis.
“Louis!” Harry shouted.
Louis lost his balance and slipped on the floor, hitting his head and breathing heavily under the weight of the demon on top of him.
He squirmed as a hand wrapped around his throat and then screamed in surprise as he heard a gunshot. Azazel cried out, lifting from his body and scrambling back across the floor.
When Louis looked up, he saw Harry pointing his gun at the demon with a look of pure rage on his face that made even Louis tremble for a moment.
“Only I can kill him, you bastard,” Harry muttered, pointing the gun at another approaching demon and shooting it in the leg.
“Give me that bloody journal,” Louis muttered, snatching it out of Harry's hands as he stood up, thinking that they would never finish otherwise.
“You can't read it!” Harry exclaimed as he shot Azazel again, who had gotten back to his feet.
“Uh, it sounds easy,” Louis commented. “Elgo - No… Ergo, draco maledicte, ut eccle-ecclesiam tuam, uhm, secura, tibi facia-”
“Louis, damn it!” Harry screamed as the demons writhed in pain and knelt on the floor, screaming curses and pleas.
“Shut up,” Louis snapped. “Tibi facias libertate servire. Te rogamus,” he continued, forcibly closing the journal and jerking his head up to look at the demons before they were exorcized by the last word. “Adios , bitches.”
And… nothing happened. The demons kneeling on the floor raised their heads and Azazel burst out laughing, while Louis felt his blood freeze in his veins.
It hadn't worked, they had read it till the end and the exorcism had had no effect. How was that possible when his father had written it and his mother had told him that-
“It's not adios, you idiot! It's audi nos,” Harry snapped.
The moment he spoke those words, the demons writhed and screamed at the top of their lungs as thick black smoke poured from the mouths of the bodies they had possessed, heading out the window. It merged with the cloud that had already enveloped the motel, and slowly began to retreat.
Louis stood gasping, looking at the collapsed corpses in front of them.
Three of the bodies lay motionless, their eyes wide open. A woman near the bedroom door gasped and coughed violently as she rolled onto her side and tried to get up.
Azazel… Samuel, his grandfather, lay on the floor as blood began to flow from the wounds the bullets had inflicted on him, and probably others he had sustained over all those years. After lying still for a few moments, however, he began to pant and cough, cursing loudly.
“Fuck!” Harry shouted, kneeling down next to the man.
Louis rushed up to him and grabbed him forcefully by the arm, forcing him to stand up.
“Harry, we don't have time. Get your things, we'll call the police from the car.”
“But your grandfather…”
“We don't have time,” Louis insisted, biting his lip, because although he didn't know him, Samuel was the only family he had left at that point.
Harry hesitated for a moment and then, breathlessly, stuffed everything into his bag.
Louis was used to escaping this way before the police arrived, so he meticulously gathered everything that might seem suspicious, from the bullets to his clothes, from weapons to the knife that was still in the sink.
They hurried down the stairs and through the dining room, trying to ignore the bodies lying on the floor, including Becky's. Louis quickly gathered up all the shell casings, counting them to make sure he got them all before running out of the motel.
All was quiet as they got into Louis’ car and drove off at full speed, the tires screeching on the asphalt.
Louis opened the glove compartment and took out the prepaid phone he used for anonymous tips, dialed the emergency number and gave the address of the motel before hanging up. Then he texted Liam to let him know he was okay and to ask him to delete all video footage from the motel.
“How far is it?” Louis asked, putting the phone back in his pocket when he received a positive reply from Liam.
Harry pulled out his phone, set the navigator and placed it on the dashboard. “Fifteen minutes.”
“Make it less than ten,” Louis replied, pressing the gas pedal.
From that moment on, silence reigned in the cockpit, broken only by the sound of the engine and Harry's occasional snort. When Louis got tired of hearing them, thinking he clearly had something to say, he snorted back.
“What is it?”
“Can I ask you something?” Harry demanded, as if he was just waiting for permission to do so. “Why didn't you tell me? I mean… I don't understand.”
Louis sighed and closed his eyes for a moment before turning them back to the dark road. “It's complicated.”
“Were you afraid I wouldn't believe you? Or that I wouldn't… accept it? I would understand, you know? After all, you didn't know I have this... interest in the supernatural, so I wouldn't be surprised if that was the reason.”
Yeah… Harry always understood everything and Louis felt like a real fool. He had no way of knowing that Harry had this knowledge of the paranormal or that he was an enthusiast, but his stomach churned at the thought that he had wasted two years trying in vain to hide his true life.
Louis clutched the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. “I didn't want to lose you. I… I was afraid you'd walk away if I told the truth.”
“But- but why? I mean… After all, our relationship had started just for sex, so why were you afraid?”
Louis smiled bitterly, feeling less stupid than him for once. “It started like that…”
Harry fell silent and when Louis turned for a moment to meet his gaze, he saw the astonished look on his face. Louis had decided not to lie anymore though, so he wouldn't.
“How long?” Harry whispered.
Louis took a deep breath. “For… for about a year and a half.”
“A year-” he muttered, then sighed dryly. “Bloody hell, Louis! Do you have any idea how many times I've tried to make you understand in two fucking years?”
Louis suddenly turned his head and opened his mouth, only to close it again.
“Yes, Mr. Idiot, you heard me right. Two. Fucking. Years.”
Louis was… speechless. Upset. Confused. Euphoric. Annihilated.
“Why?” he simply whispered, it was a question he had asked himself many times before. Why Harry was wasting his time on someone like him.
"Why , what?"
"Why me? What… what did you see in me? Why have you been after me for two years, even though I- I've been acting like an asshole to you?”
“Uh, because you're sensitive and caring, because I know you trust me and let me… take care of you? Because you've always tried to hide this side of you, but I've seen it?” Harry replied, speaking quickly as if he had been keeping those thoughts to himself for too long. “When you look at me like that, like... like you're gonna break at any moment and beg me to make you feel good, or when you let me work with you on this case. I call this trust and it's precious, especially when it's given by a distrustful person like you.”
Louis stopped the car suddenly as he realized they had reached their destination, and for a moment he stood still as he let Harry's words penetrate every fiber of his body.
He trusted Harry, he always had, but it had always been something to do with the intimate sphere rather than daily life. And yet, at that moment, Harry was sitting next to him as he was telling him, with the utmost ease and without embarrassment, that he knew Louis really trusted him, and not just under the sheets.
At that moment, Harry was sitting next to him, helping him survive, tackling a case with him, when Louis had been used to doing it on his own for too long. Harry was telling him, and not too implicitly, that he was there with him and that he wasn't alone, that Harry saw him and loved him for who he was.
Louis turned to meet his gaze for a moment, and when Harry smiled shyly, he felt on the verge of lunging for his lips. But he wouldn't give in, they would close that damn door and then he would do everything right. He would tell him everything first, from his mother's death to that moment, so Harry could really have a chance to make up his mind.
“Let's close this matter first, then we'll talk seriously,” Louis muttered, turning his gaze back to the other's green eyes.
Harry looked at him intently for a few seconds and then nodded, taking a deep breath before opening the door and getting out of the car. Louis followed suit and opened the trunk, taking out two torches and salt just in case before closing it and hurrying to the entrance of the cemetery.
Everything around them was silent, not even the wild animals made a sound. The sky was covered in thick clouds that didn't let the moon's rays through and even the streetlights were switched off, so the only sources of light illuminating their path were their torches.
“Where is it? Damn it, we should've looked for a map of the cemetery,” Louis grumbled under his breath. The last thing he wanted to do was to piss off some ghosts, even if something told him they wouldn't dare go out that night either.
Harry suppressed a laugh. “This cemetery is smaller than the bathroom in my house. Come this way,” he whispered, walking determinedly as if he knew the way.
“I assume you know everything about this place.”
“I like doing research,” he replied with a shrug.
“And I can also assume that you've been here before.”
Harry chuckled as if it was funny. “Do you think I'm that stupid? I've never had the courage to come here.”
Louis frowned. “Is it that famous? I've never heard of it.”
He couldn't see him because of the darkness but from the way Harry sighed, Louis could tell he had just rolled his eyes.
“I think there are few people who don't know the legend of Stull, especially those from Kansas,” Harry replied. “The legend is centuries old and dates back to the 1800s.”
“And why has it become so famous?”
“The usual... … People who heard strange noises or had memory loss after being here. It was a tourist destination for years,” Harry explained. “Anyway, it all started with the church. The story goes that in the 19th century, the mayor of the town was killed on the consecrated ground of the cemetery and a church was built on the spot where he died. Apparently there's an underground staircase inside the church that is said to lead to the gates of hell, although I've found no evidence of people descending it. Apart from the hunter who opened the gate, of course.”
“That's it?” Louis asked, frowning.
“Yeah. People camped out at least twice a year, on the days they thought the devil would show up, but it never happened,” Harry went on to explain. “In any case, the church was torn down years ago without permission. It's not known who ordered it but when it happened, the door had already been opened. Who knows, maybe a hunter knew about the door and had the church torn down because he thought he would close it that way.”
Louis smiled, intrigued by the things he knew and the way he had already connected the pieces of the puzzle with the information they had only recently received.
“What is it?” Harry asked, shining the flashlight in his face.
Louis shrugged. “Nothing, just that you are very… smart, to say the least.”
“Well, you must be too if you haven't gotten yourself killed in all these years,” Harry chuckled.
“If it wasn't for you, I probably never would've found out about the exorcism and this whole thing, and they would've killed me before I could even get up from that damn table,” Louis admitted.
“Well, then let's say I'm the mastermind and you’re the arm in the pair," Harry replied, chuckling again.
In the pair.
Louis bit his lip to suppress a smile. He didn't know if he liked that definition, which didn't refer to them and their intimate relationship but rather to what they were doing.
He hated that life and would've gladly given it up, but now that Harry had found out the truth, the part of Louis that loved that job because it had allowed him to save many lives, wondered if a life together might have made it more bearable. The other part of him, however, would never want Harry to lead such a life, and this inner conflict made everything even more difficult.
“Here we are,” Harry said, stopping in front of some ruins.
Actually, they couldn't even be called ruins, because all that was left of the church were the foundations.
“Where's the ladder?” Louis asked, pointing his flashlight in different directions to find it.
Harry walked around what was left of the structure until he reached the other side and shone the torch at a specific point.
“It should be here,” he said, climbing over what was left of one of the church walls.
Louis cursed grudgingly and followed him, glancing at the rubble that covered the entrance to the underground staircase. He clamped the flashlight between his teeth, as did Harry, and together they began to quickly move the debris until they found a square hole and the remains of an old metal ladder.
“I hope I don't break my neck,” Harry muttered.
“You can stay here if you want,” Louis said, stepping over some rubble and carefully placing his foot on the first step to make sure it could support his weight.
Harry stifled a laugh. “First of all, I won't let you go down there alone. And secondly, I'm not stupid enough to stay up here alone.”
Louis rolled his eyes but smiled, starting to climb down the ladder as quickly but carefully as possible. When he saw the last steps, he suddenly stopped, feeling his blood freeze in his veins and his heart stop in his chest.
“Did you hear that?” he asked in a whisper.
Harry was silent for a moment. “It sounds like a… a roar?” he said in an uncertain voice, then they both flinched as they heard the sound again, this time followed by a strong gust of wind.
“Run!” Louis shouted, jumping down the last few steps and running as fast as he could down the narrow, rock-lined corridor.
He pointed the flashlight in front of him at a large metal double door only a few meters away from them, which split the corridor leading down to the entrance of hell, a thick cloud of black smoke moving rapidly towards them.
He threw himself to one side of the double door and Harry to the other, next to him, pushing with all the strength he had to swing it on its hinges and cursing when it didn't budge an inch.
“Fuck!” he shouted breathlessly.
Louis tried again, leaning on the door with all his weight and squinting as the wind grew stronger. He shone the flashlight beyond the door for a moment, noticing how the cloud was getting closer and denser, then he met Harry's gaze, seeing the horror written all over his features.
Once again, that was exactly what gave Louis the strength he needed. The sight of Harry, so frightened and so fragile, but still by his side despite everything.
He pushed with all the strength he had in his body, feeling his muscles burning and screaming in pain, but he didn't stop until he felt the door give way and, finally, swing around its hinges. He wondered if Harry had felt the same rush or if it was just fear that gave him the strength, when a thin cloud of black smoke fluttered past the door, and with a final muffled growl, they managed to close it with a dull thud.
Louis leaned against it and slumped on the cold ground, breathing heavily, then turned to see Harry in the same position. They looked at each other for a moment before bursting into hysterical laughter, as if it was funny to be leaning against the gates of hell.
“How many do you think came out?” Harry asked as they both began to breathe evenly again.
“I don't know,” Louis muttered. “Damn sons of bitches.”
“Do you think they'll possess someone else now?”
“I don't know that either,” Louis replied, sighing as he stood up, and held out his hand to Harry to help him do the same. “If you don't mind, I'd just like to go home and sleep now. I'm a bit tired.”
“A bit?” Harry chuckled. “I think I'm gonna take a week off. I feel like I've been hit by a train,” he added, grabbing his hand and standing up.
Louis burst out laughing, followed by Harry, and as the laughter died away, he met his eyes in the dim light illuminated only by the torches. He had promised himself he would wait, make everything right and give Harry a chance to make up his mind once he knew the whole truth, but at that moment he couldn't help himself.
Louis lunged for his lips, dropping the torch to the ground with a thud and cupping his face with both hands. Harry gasped, perhaps unprepared or because of the force with which he had thrown himself at him, but Louis took advantage of the way he parted his lips to slide his tongue between them.
Harry didn't push him away though, instead grabbing his hips forcefully and pressing him against his body, following the quick and desperate movements of Louis’ tongue around his.
Sensing that he was out of breath, Louis pulled back, still holding Harry's face in his hands and resting his forehead against his. They looked at each other intently for a few seconds, then an amused smile broke out on Harry's face.
“I can't believe you gave me our first real kiss in a cemetery and in front of the gates of hell.”
Louis burst out laughing, shaking his head and leaving another kiss on his lips. “Be thankful I still have a shred of dignity, because you were so sexy I'd gladly get down on my knees right now.”
Harry wrinkled his nose and chuckled. “I don't wanna end up in hell too, thank you very much.”
“Ha ha, very funny,” Louis muttered, kissing him one last time before they climbed the stairs and went out into the fresh air, walking to the car in silence.
“I gotta get my car,” Harry said, breaking the silence that had fallen.
Louis remained in silence thinking as he opened the back door of the Impala and the small cooler he always carried with him. He took out two bottles of beer and uncorked them before handing one to Harry, then opened the driver's door to turn on the headlights to shed light. They sat on the hood of the car and clinked the bottles before taking a sip.
“Hmm, I think we should wait until the police have gone. It would be too risky to do it now.”
“Well, by now they'll have memorized the license plate and figured out my identity. I can go and pretend nothing happened, just say I was a guest at the motel but I wasn't there when whatever happened,” Harry retorted, then cursed. “There are fucking cameras.”
“I have already asked my source to delete all the footage.”
Harry sighed, shaking his head. “You might as well stop calling him your source, you know?” he muttered, then cleared his throat and looked away. “It's Liam, right? The one who gave you the information about the motel when we were in the room.”
Louis frowned at Harry's behavior, settling on the hood of the car to get a better look at him. “Yeah, why?”
Harry shrugged, lowering his head and nervously playing with the sleeve of his sweatshirt. “You and him… Uh…”
Louis bit back a laugh and shook his head, feeling his heart beat a little faster at the thought of Harry being jealous. Then he took a deep breath, knowing that it was time to tell Harry the whole truth.
“There's never been anyone else in these two years, Harry. Only you,” he said, meeting his gaze and looking at him intently.
Harry blushed and smiled shyly. “There's never been anyone else for me either.”
Louis bit his lip at that admission, because that was what had always tormented him, the idea that there was someone else in Harry's life.
He sighed as he realized that he no longer had an excuse to put off the conversation, and once again the fear of losing Harry gripped his stomach.
Harry hadn't run away under any circumstances and he hadn't rejected him when Louis kissed him, he had admitted that he had feelings for Louis for two years and had told him that he loved him, but it was so surreal and incomprehensible to Louis that Harry actually wanted to be with him that it wasn't enough.
Louis had to tell him everything, firstly because he was tired of lying and because Harry had the right to know the truth, especially after he had stayed with him in that madness until the end, and secondly because he no longer had the strength to remain in doubt.
“Listen…” he murmured after several minutes of silence spent sipping their beers. “I know that… that you said you loved me and... and everything that happened and what you said, but I need to tell you the truth because I owe you and because I'm fucking tired of lying.”
“Lou-”
“No, Harry. Listen to me, okay? I know this all seems cool and fun to you now, but I assure you it's not.”
Harry looked at him impassively, then raised an eyebrow. “Cool and fun? Do you think that's what I thought when that bastard told you that your father…? Or when we were about to be possessed by fucking demons? When you saw your mother's ghost, or when I read a fucking exorcism and looked as a fucking demon was about to kill you?”
Louis opened his mouth to say something back, but Harry raised a hand to cut him off before he could, and something that looked like anger appeared on his face.
“If you wanna tell me your story, okay, but I want you to do it because you want to or because you need to, and not because you think I need to hear it to make a decision about… about us,” he snapped indignantly. “I already made that damn decision two years ago. And if I was stupid enough to stay even though you kept disappearing, even though I felt like you only cared about sex, and even though nothing about your behavior ever made me think you had feelings for me, what the hell makes you think I'd let you go now that I know you have feelings for me?”
Louis bit his lip to stop the tears he had been holding back for so long from coming out.
“Okay,” he whispered in a low voice.
Harry looked at him for a moment, then sighed and nodded, reaching out and intertwining their fingers as if to give him comfort, or the strength Louis would need.
He took a deep breath and exhaled shakily before he began to recount everything from his mother's death to the change his father had gone through, how he had raised him and how he had felt all those years. It was difficult as he had never told anyone the whole story or how he had felt emotionally, but Harry kept silent the whole time without interrupting.
“Harry, I don't want you to live this life just because you want to be with me,” he murmured when he finished his story and after wiping away the tears he hadn't been able to hold back, hoping that Harry would see his point of view.
“I didn't have a choice, okay? I grew up like this and I've always lived this life, but you didn't. I know what it means to put everything aside, including self-love, to… to follow someone you love just to make them happy, and I don't want that to happen between us.”
Harry looked at him silently for a few moments, then his features softened and he sighed.
“Lou, you were just a kid when you started this life, so you didn't have much of a choice. I'm an adult and a mature person, and even though I have to admit that I'm a little naive, I'm able to recognize what I'd be facing and decide accordingly.”
Louis sighed softly, leaning back against the windshield and looking up at the dark sky above them.
“I don't want you to live this life. I hate this life.”
“No, Lou, you hate the reasons that pushed you to continue living this life, not it per se. You hate that you had no choice, you hate that it took your father and his affection away from you, and you hate that you only kept going because you were seeking approval from him, but you don't hate what you're doing,” Harry replied softly.
Louis met his gaze and fell silent, thinking about what he had said until he came to the conclusion that Harry was right. He liked saving people, protecting them from things they couldn't understand. It strengthened him and gave him a sense of fulfillment.
Part of Louis knew it, even if he didn't want to admit it, because it was the same part that kept telling him that his father didn't really care about him, and the fact that he left to protect him didn't change that.
“I'm sorry about your father,” Harry murmured eventually, as if reading his mind once again.
Louis shrugged and licked his lips, trying to find a way to express his feelings. “Do you think that- that I'm a bad person if I tell you that I don't care? I mean… I know he left to protect me and all that, but he forced me into this life long before he left.”
Harry thought about it for a few moments and then snuggled against him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and leaving a kiss on his temple.
“No one has the right to tell you how to feel, and there's no right or wrong in these cases, Lou. If that's how you feel, then that's valid and it's okay.”
Louis sighed, relaxing, and rested his head on his chest. “Are you still sure you wanna be part of this? Your life is gonna change forever, Harry, or at least until you decide to… to do this job.”
“I'm sure, Lou, and I don't wanna do it because I feel like I don't have a choice. I could just wait for you at home and do what I normally do, but I wanna go on this adventure with you.”
“And… and what would you do if I died one day from a werewolf or a shapeshifter or a vampire or any of the damn things I have to deal with?” he muttered and then held his breath. “I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you.”
“And what have I done so far, Louis? I've been waiting for you for two years , always, so what difference would it make? That's what I already do, don't you understand?” Harry replied in an exasperated tone. “And that's what a team is for, isn't it? Being able to rely on each other and protect each other, no matter what.”
Louis hesitated and met his gaze, finding only certainties and the security he had always sought but never found. The comfort, the companionship, the desire to be part of something and to be able to share his life with someone. Not with just anyone, but with Harry.
He still wasn't convinced it was the best decision and he knew he would live with the fear of losing him every day, but Harry was right, it was no different to the fear of losing him that he had always felt in those two years that had passed.
He took a deep breath and decided that it would be worth it after all, and that he wouldn't want anyone but Harry by his side.
He kissed him gently, a silent promise to tell him that he would do what Harry had always done for him, take care of him without ever asking for anything in return.
Louis stood up from the hood and held out a hand, which Harry took without hesitation, leading him to the back of the car and opening the trunk.
“Well, then I think our first lesson should start here,” Louis said, wedging a rifle between the bottom of the trunk and the door to hold it open. “We've got work to do.”