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"This is bad. This is very, very bad," Neil muttered under his breath as he paced back and forth. It had taken nearly an hour to calm down Old Magnus and send him back into town. As soon as Old Magnus had rounded the corner, Neil rushed inside the church to the phone, then to his suitcase to dig out the book of numbers he had been given on completion of his training to call in case he needed help, then back to the phone.

The man on the other end had been very sorry, but they would only be able to send one exorcist, and it would take at least two weeks, if not more, to get someone up there. They were simply too backed up to send any more, or anyone any sooner.

Neil had bitten his lower lip bloody to keep from yelling at the man, thanked him and confirmed the church's address and his name, and then slammed the phone down on the receiver so hard that a small crack developed on the side near the seam.

He then proceeded to storm outside, where Black Shuck joined him and silently watched as the priest began the time-honored tradition of everyone who knew they were royally screwed: panicking.

"I just wanted to do good and help people! And less than a day after I get here I'm having to deal with a stupid ghost who wants to kill me and everyone else! This is what I get for trying to be a good person! Death! I get death! Painful, scary death!"

Neil wasn't sure how long the ghost let him pace and babble, the icy air of fall in Maine searing his lungs and adding to the cold terror in his stomach, but it couldn't have been more than a few minutes before he turned around to start back down the path he was beginning to wear into the grass and ran into something solid and icy cold. He grunted slightly, half-draped across the ghost's back, then sucked in air that had been knocked out of his lungs and straightened. Slowly, he met Black Shuck's dry gaze, then closed his eyes.

"Okay. I get it. Panicking isn't going to help."

A cold nudge against his shoulder, and then the ghost stepped away. Neil took a deep breath to calm himself, then opened his eyes and met eerie green ones.

"So. I'm on my own in this."

Black Shuck rolled its eyes, then shoved its head into Neil's stomach hard enough to almost knock him over, then stilled while Neil clutched at lank, icy fur to keep his balance.

"Okay, I get it. We're on our own in this."

A single wag of a ragged tail, then Black Shuck stepped back and met Neil's eyes, tilting its head to one side.

Neil swallowed at the silent question. "We're going to do everything we can to beat this thing." He winced and rubbed at the back of his neck. "And probably going to die in the process..."

Black Shuck rolled its eyes.

"Fine, _I'm_probably going to die in the process. Look, I have a funeral to arrange, Old Magnus refused to put it off, but during that time we'll also fortify the church. I don't know if it's strong enough to go inside now-" Black Shuck nodded its head, and Neil winced, "-... great. I'll see if I can do people's homes in the town, too, but I may not get enough supplies. I'll need Father Basil's books, if we do enough it may not stop that thing, but it could slow it down. Then we'll try to take it out."

The ghost nodded again, and Neil forced a shaky smile. Honestly, he was terrified, but having a plan, and someone on his side-even if they were dead-helped keep the fear at bay for the moment.

He could break down later. For now, they had planning to do.

*******

The first thing Neil did, after checking the books again, was buy all the salt he could get his hands on at the grocers.

His reading suggested that the coarser, the better, mostly because it was less likely to be blown away by wind, but at this point he was working with what he had, and what he had was three one-pound containers of fine salt.

Neil knew that wouldn't be enough to surround the church, much less fortify any of the homes in town, but quick experimenting with Black Shuck proved that he didn't need a circle completely around the building. The ghost had demonstrated quite well that trying to enter the church through a wall was like Neil walking face-first into a closed door. The ghost had been able to stretch a paw through the open church doors, although had quickly snatched it back and shook it, ears pinned and tail tucked. From the way the dark paw had become smoky and indistinct at the edges for those few seconds it had been inside, and Black Shuck's reaction, it was clear that the experience was painful for the spirit.

After Neil laid a line of salt just inside the entrance, and Black Shuck tried again, it was as if the ghost was coming up against another wall. Satisfied, Neil had put down salt barriers on the floor at all of the church entrances and windows.

Unfortunately, the only other preparation he was able to do had been to dig out the sage and holy water packed with Father Basil's exorcist books, and try to memorize some of the prayers inside. The rest of his time was taken up organizing Young Magnus's funeral, which Old Magnus still refused to put off, despite Neil asking three more times.

The town was too small to have a funeral home. That meant that the funeral would be held in the church itself, which entailed not only a top to bottom cleaning of the dusty place, but organizing with Old Magnus in regards to the service. Neil had, of course, been taught the basic rites for performing at a funeral, but learning those was a far cry from actually organizing one. So, it was only a few short days of harried preparation for both a murderous ghost and a funeral that would likely be attended by the entire town, all while growing steadily more paranoid and uneasy at the lack of appearances or attacks by said ghost.

What could go wrong?

*******

The day of the funeral dawned cold and gray, the stones of the church washed out and dingy in the diffuse light, the stained glass drained of color. Lightning flashed between clouds that threatened rain, but weren't delivering yet.

At this point, Neil probably should have taken it as a sign.

But no, he was too busy putting last minute touches around the church, including redoing the salt line at the main entrance further into the church so that it would be out of reach of the rain, so much so that he nearly forgot to eat.

Well, he did forget to eat, up until he swayed and nearly fell over while sweeping fallen leaves off of the back steps where the coffin would be carried out later. If not for Black Shuck suddenly appearing and catching him against a broad, icy side, he would have ended up having dying grass for breakfast. The ghost gave him an unamused look before pointedly using his head to shove Neil towards the door.

"Alright, alright, I'll go eat," Neil said, rolling his eyes before muttering under his breath about mother hens.

He refused to admit that the ghost had been right, as the first group of people started arriving only moments after he stuffed the last bite of cheese sandwich in his mouth and rushed to make sure that the flowers were properly arranged on the coffin and the tables to either side.

Neil spent the next hour greeting people, doing his best to provide comfort about someone he barely knew, and at one point serving as a living tissue when Young Magnus's girlfriend, Elizabeth, needed a shoulder to cry on. During this time, thunder quaked and began to rattle the stained-glass windows, coming more frequently as the scuffed old pews filled. Eventually, once Old Magnus confirmed that everyone had arrived, Neil was able to close the church doors against the dropping temperature.

It took some time, but finally everyone was seated, and Neil took his place at the pulpit. He bought himself a little time to calm his nerves by adjusting the stack of papers before him and deliberately breathing deep and slow.

Okay. He could do this.

"In every celebration for the dead, the Church attaches great importance to the reading of the word of-"

KRAKOOM!

Every person in the building jumped. Several screamed in shock, not all of them women. Neil's breath caught in his throat, and his blood ran cold.

The church doors had burst wide open, smoking gashes on the wood that heavily resembled claw marks where lightning struck.

More screams, now, as people turned around and spotted what had Neil frozen in terror.

The ghost loomed in the church entryway, hackles nearly brushing the doorjamb. Pale fangs flashed in the watery autumn light streaming in around it, and glowing red eyes cast a bloody pall over the assembled town as it took one deliberate step inside.

'The salt! Why isn't the salt-'

Neil's stomach roiled with nausea as he spotted the white line scattered and broken and indistinct from the multiple people walking inside.

He hadn't thought to redo the salt line again after everyone arrived.

And now that murderous creature was free to come inside. In the midst of Neil's terror, he knew now why it had been so quiet the past few days. The accursed spirit had been biding its time, waiting for this.

And now, the entire town was gathered in one place, and the ghost had no shortage of victims, like a fox that had broken in with the chickens.

Another step, unnaturally sharp claws digging into and ripping the old rug underfoot.

Another.

The ghost was inside now, and those bared fangs were a cruel, mocking grin. It knew it had them cornered. There was only one hallway to the back, only a few people could fit through it at a time, and the rest would be trapped out here with that monster. The ghost was savoring the moment, steps slow and silent and sure, and all with that mocking, snarling grin.

Panic erupted through the crowd, people dashing for the only exit not blocked by certain death, the crush of multiple people all trying to fit into a narrow hallway at once effectively stoppering their escape. The ghost's grin only widened.

Sobbing broke Neil out of his frozen daze. Not daring to turn his head, he flicked his eyes over to see Ronan, the baker, clutching little Brynn to him. The big man was turned so that his back was to the ghost, and his daughter was crying in terror into his chest.

Neil's heart squeezed.

No. He couldn't let this thing kill everyone, not without at least trying to slow it down, maybe buy some time for more people to escape.

Moving slowly, he slipped his hand into his robes, watching the slowly advancing ghost carefully. He frowned slightly, eyebrows furrowing. It looked... odd. The edges were slightly indistinct, almost...

He gasped as he realized what he was seeing. It was the same thing that had happened when Shuck had shoved his paw inside the church to prove a point, only on a larger scale.

The ghost may be powerful enough to enter the church, but that didn't mean that the holy ground wasn't still hurting it.

Maybe, just maybe...

Finally, his hand closed around the three things he had hidden in his robe. Slowly, he pulled out the vial of holy water, the bundle of sage, and the lighter. The flame caught and flared after a few flicks of his thumb, and he shakily lit one end of the sage bundle.

Unfortunately, the fire also caught the ghost's attention, and the ever-present snarl became less mocking as it shifted to fury.

Neil was trembling, he knew he was, and he couldn't keep his voice steady, and he _really, really_hoped that he remembered the prayer he had memorized correctly, even as he stepped out from behind the pulpit and thrust the sage before him like the world's most pathetic shield. "Spirit of our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Most Holy Trinity, Immaculate Virgin Mary, angels, archangels, and saints of heaven, descend upon me. Please purify me, Lord, mold me, fill me with yourself, use me."

The ghost's attention was completely on him now. On the one hand, it was buying time for more people to cram down the hallway towards the back exit of the church. On the other, the ghost's attention was completely on him.

Neil was certain by now that he was going to die, but if he could just buy enough time to let everyone else escape...

"Banish all the forces of evil from me, destroy them, vanish them, so that I can be healthy and do good deeds."

The ghost parted its teeth, flinching back slightly as a draft drew the sage smoke closer. It was a little more indistinct around the edges, but still terrifyingly solid as those eyes burned bright as the world's heart blood that thrummed in the core, and just as deadly.

Neil was just opening his mouth to continue the prayer when the ghost crouched, preparing to leap.

A black figure, massive but smaller than the giant, menacing one, landed on the ghost's back, teeth flashing down into the back of its neck.

Neil had seen dogs fight before. This was more or less the same, except scaled up ten times and far more terrifying.

His eyes went wide as Shuck's teeth clashed against those of the larger ghost, green eyes burning as fiercely as red. The pews had been nailed to the floor, but that seemed to make little difference as the two massive dogs rolled together, smashing through them or just ripping them up and shoving them aside. The terrible snarls of the larger ghost were joined by the crashing and cracking of breaking wood, and several people screamed in terror or pain as flying shrapnel struck them. Even more terrifying was how small his friend was compared to the other ghost, and that Shuck was already even more indistinct around the edges than the other ghost. Neil's throat grew tight as he realized what the ghost was doing.

Shuck was buying him time to finish the exorcism.

He couldn't waste this chance. His voice was squeaky with terror, his throat not wanting to loosen and work and grant him his voice back, but he managed to continue the prayer, each word hard-fought against fear that wanted to close his throat and seize his tongue into silence.

Neil had to dive backwards as the whirling ball of flashing fangs and ragged fur rolled past. People who were crammed against the walls screamed as the fighting ghosts drew close, and Neil's breath caught as the smaller one planted his paws and _heaved,_stopping their progress mere inches from the huddled humans at the cost of the larger setting its teeth into his neck and flinging him like a rag doll back into the middle of the room. Shuck began to pick himself back up, only to go down as the larger ghost slammed into him, and the fighting began anew.

His stomach dropped and worry-borne nausea hit him as he registered that both ghosts were growing more indistinct. He palmed the vial of holy water and just prayed he could get a good shot at the right one once the prayer was complete.

Neil continued to chant the prayer, dashing across and trailing the burning sage so that the smoke hovered in the air. Seconds later, the fighting ghosts rolled through, making them both jerk and spasm and their edges grow steadily more frayed.

'Forgive me, Shuck,' Neil thought, then took a deep breath and finished the last lines. "-to leave here forever, and to be consigned into the everlasting hell, where they will be bound by Saint Michael the archangel, Saint Gabriel, Saint Raphael, our guardian angels, and where they will be crushed under the heel of the Immaculate Virgin Mary. Amen."

The larger ghost ripped Shuck down off its neck and pinned him to the church floor with a massive paw, jaws widening to deal the final blow-

Then gagged and jerked back as the open vial of holy water hit the back of its throat, coating it.

The ghost heaved and writhed, clawing at its own mouth as it rolled and bucked. It snarled, which shaded into a scream that had Neil slapping his hands over his ears. Glowing red eyes, burning with hatred, locked on Neil. Jerkily, the ghost slowly rolled and got to its feet, holy water dribbling out from its open lower maw. Neil swallowed, gripped the crucifix hanging around his neck tightly, and began to back away.

There was no need. The ghost managed a single step, then convulsed. It gagged again, then gave one last piercing scream as it burst into black mist, which quickly burned away.

Relief made Neil's knees suddenly go weak, and he collapsed to sit on the torn-up floor. Shakily, he looked around, noting almost hysterically that only one pew at the very front had survived the fight.

And then he registered the still black form still laying on the floor, edges frayed like an old sweater and a broken pew visible through him.

"Shuck!" Panicked, Neil scrambled to his feet and rushed to his friend. Weakly, the tip of the ragged tail twitched, and even as he watched, Shuck grew transparent enough that he could see the floor's woodgrain through him.

The church's holy ground was still acting on the ghost, and he was too far gone to get himself out.

Grunting, Neil wrapped his arms around that big barrel chest and hauled, wincing as his back popped. "You're a ghost, how are you so heavy?" he hissed under his breath, even as the ghost only moved a half foot or so across the floor. Registering for the first time in several minutes, he looked up to find those who hadn't managed to get out staring at him.

"What are you looking at? He just saved all of us, get over here and help me!" Neil didn't care that he was snapping, and he felt he could probably be forgiven, considering the situation.

As a one, all of the watching people crowded back and away, to a one watching the still ghost with marked distrust.

Neil swallowed down disgust and bile and pulled again, his back screaming in pain as he slowly hauled Shuck back to the open church doors. Out, out, he had to get him out before he was destroyed as well.

A dozen feet from the door, Neil's arms suddenly slipped right through Shuck and he fell backwards. Wincing, he sat up, and nearly sobbed at how transparent the ghost was. By now he was on the long rug Neil had set out to soak up water in case it started raining, so experimentally Neil stood and pulled on the end. At seeing Shuck move with the rug, he grunted and pulled with all his might, dragging the ghost the rest of the way out of the church doors.

Neil ignored the first fat drops of rain, staring at the ghost. Please, please let this not be too little, too late.

Shuck weakly looked up, gave a single wag of his tail as he buried his nose in Neil's stomach. The ghost gave a long sigh of what seemed like relief, then closed his eyes and faded away.

********

It had been three months since the fight in the church.

"You sure you want to be leaving? We would really appreciate you sticking around," Old Magnus said as Neil grunted and shoved at the top of his suitcase, then finally resorted to sitting on it to get it to close enough to snap the latches shut.

"I can do more good as an exorcist. I'm lucky to have been accepted for training," Neil repeated what he had told the congregation during his final Mass. "Father Greene is a good man, I've met him before. He'll take good care of all of you."

"Well, if it's what you want." The old man shuffled nervously, leaning heavier on his cane, then cleared his throat. "I never thanked you. For getting rid of that thing. It didn't bring back my son, but..."

Neil gave a single nod, then a tight smile. "I understand. If you don't mind, I'd like to take one last walk around the grounds. Say goodbye and all that."

Old Magnus nodded, gave Neil one last strained smile, and turned to limp off. Neil made no offer of help.

Neil took a deep breath, picked up his suitcase, then headed down the hall and out the back door of the church, into the cemetery. Winter had fully set in, snow softening the lines of the stone church and the headstones that stretched out before him, still fresh and untouched from the snowfall the night before. He didn't linger, and only glanced around before heading straight for the copse of trees and underbrush in the far corner. Once there, he set his suitcase down and began to work his way in.

It took a bit to get through, and he ended up with more than a little snow on his robes, but soon he was standing in front of that lonely wooden grave marker. He swallowed to clear his throat, then spoke aloud.

"You're sure this is what you want?"

Shuck faded into view, sitting beside the wooden cross. The ghost gave a single nod and a slow wag of his tail. Neil knew the ghost's answer already, Shuck had made it quite clear that he had no desire to stay in a town that no longer trusted him, and frankly, Neil couldn't blame him.

Carefully, Neil lifted the collar from the cross, unbuckled the end, and wrapped it twice around his left wrist before awkwardly rebuckling it one-handed.

Once he had smoothed his sleeve back down to cover it, Shuck stood and stepped forward to shove his cold head into Neil's chest, tail wagging furiously. Laughing softly, he hugged the huge head and ruffled the ghost's ears.

"Come on. We'll miss our ride if we take too long."

This time, when he stepped out of the trees and picked his suitcase up, the ghost fell into step on his left side. Neil allowed his free hand to fall to the back of the ghost's neck, burying into chill fur and giving a gentle scratch.

They could both do more good this way.