I will post the final chapters over the next two or three days.  

XXII

                The Old One was the first to sense the Creeper’s presence.  He was nearest the Boy’s bed, lying on the floor with one eye on the window and another on the sleeping forms above him.

The old dog shivered and for the first time in his memory was truly afraid.

                Across the room, the Visitor growled in his sleep and the boy shifted under the covers. A long, black limb snaked out from under the bed and withdrew like a wisp of smoke.  

                The Old One rose slowly, silently, and peered into the darkness between the floor and the box springs. We see you. We know you’re here.

                Seeing us all is one thing, killing us another.

                Across the room, the Hound growled. I think you’ll find we’re up to the task.

                The Small Dog appeared from a chair he’d been hiding beneath. Especially when you have to face us all.

                For a half second, the entire room and its contents, the dogs, the boy, the walls themselves, seemed to inhale, hold their breaths. Evil, good, darkness, light, air, matter, and energy all in a still motion shot.

                And in the next second, they exhaled, and death rode in on the draft.