My eyes snapped open as the sensation of falling electrified my nervous system, and I met the ground all too quickly shortly after that. It was hard and cold - cement, I realized with confusion. I was glad I hadn’t landed on my broken arm, I wasn’t sure the plaster would have held up if I had. Though I still couldn’t quite comprehend where I was or how I had gotten there. When I had gone to bed, everything was largely under control. My little sister, Claire, was in the guest room and Eric was asleep on the couch in the living room.
Now I was standing in the incomplete interior of a mall wearing only my pajama pants.
Construction materials lay abandoned all around. Scaffolding was still in place around the upper levels, loose wires hung down exposed and it looked like some parts of the building had collapsed, leaving reinforced steel bars poking out of the concrete. It was dusty and little bits of debris coated the floor.
A few years back, before I was an officer, some big developer had decided to build a mall in our town. The project itself had been plagued with accidents. Workers were injured, machinery inexplicably broke down and eventually someone died. I hadn’t personally seen it before, I only even knew about it because my boss, Sheriff Barrett, had been involved with the investigation and told me about it once.
He had been pretty vague on the details and never gave me the exact location, but I thought this must be it. I took a step back to get a better view of the second level and cut my bare foot on some glass I had failed to notice. “Ow.” I muttered to myself as I plucked it out and in response a soft chuckle echoed through the building.
I felt a chill run down my spine as I realized I wasn’t alone. “Hello? Who’s there?” I called using my officer voice.
The town I live in is a little unconventional, it’s located in Maine somewhere along the Appalachian mountains and strange things have always happened. Creature sightings, odd disappearances, the occasional massacre in the forest… That kind of thing. Personally when things start to get a little… Unusual, I tend to ignore it. We call Eric in as a specialist and while he deals with whatever it really is. I chalk it up to some very odd, but somewhat explainable, circumstances and leave it at that.
However recently things have become increasingly difficult to ignore. The day prior I was chased through the snow by a girl with white hair, and Eric had been staying in my apartment while he worked the case. He’s a little scary sometimes, I guess you have to be to survive in the line of work he’s in. We’d become quite good friends over the past few months regardless.
He’s saved my life countless times and protected the town on more than one occasion. If I’m honest I wished he was here to handle this with me. I was in no way prepared for this. I still hadn’t even pieced together how I had gotten there. I hoped I was still dreaming.
I tried to think of what Eric would do and looked around more carefully. I couldn’t see anyone initially, then I noticed a shadowy figure with reflective yellow eyes staring at me from the dark hallway across the room. Out of reflex my hand moved to my side, reaching for the gun I didn’t have. “I don’t want any trouble.” I called.
“No one cares what you want.” The voice that answered had an accent I recognised. American but, not quite, similar to that of an immigrant from Europe. It was the same as Eric’s and I felt relief, it must be someone he knows. After all, I had never heard anyone else with that accent before.
“My name is Charles, I’m one of Eric’s friends. I don’t really know how I got here, can you help me?” I asked hopeful
“I know who you are.” He answered amused, as he stepped forward into the light. He was younger than I would have expected and reasonably tall. He looked like a punk with his hair dyed dark green and contacts in his eyes that were a luminescent yellow.
“And I know who you’re associated with, that’s why you’re here.” He continued with a smile showing his teeth. That was more than a little unsettling, his canines were particularly prominent and I felt immediately threatened. Perhaps I was mistaken and this wasn’t a friend.
“Right. I think I’ll just go then.” I said trying not to sound nervous and subtly looking for an exit.
“No.” He said simply, pulling a switchblade from his pocket. This was going downhill fast. I had training on this kind of circumstance but I was doubtful I would come out on top if this got physical.
“There’s no need for this to get violent.” I spoke in a calm tone trying to deescalate the situation and as he approached I gingerly stepped back. I really didn’t want to tread on any more glass.
“Oh, there’s plenty of reason for this to get violent.” He purred, it could have been a trick of the light, but his eyes lit up as he spoke, the yellow converting to electric blue.
He rushed at me then and my heart thundered against my ribcage. I knew how to disarm him, though I had never actually put it into practice. I blocked the front of his wrist with my right hand and smacked the back of his fist with the cast on my arm, causing the knife to fly from his grip. It slid cleanly across the floor well out of reach.
Honestly, I’m not sure which of us was more astonished that it worked, but I knew I needed to move quickly to strike again. My fist connected well with his jaw and he stumbled, looking mildly surprised that he had been hit, then annoyed.
“Stop, you putrid sack of meat.” He hissed, there was a strange undertone to his voice and I felt my body involuntarily follow his order.
After a moment it wore off and I stumbled back from the shock of it, losing my balance entirely when I stepped on another piece of debris. I hit the floor hard and he was quick to take advantage. Before I could get up he kicked me in the stomach, it knocked the breath out of me and I curled over in pain. His expression then was amused though he didn’t move to hit me again, instead held up his hand and with a flick of his wrist I felt my body slide across the ground.
My bare skin had scraped on bits of dirt and shrapnel the whole way, leaving a graze on my side that stung. I recovered slowly and realized I had landed near the switchblade. I reached for it right away and as soon as it was in my grasp I pushed myself up and braced for the next attack.
“How cute. Stab yourself in the leg.” He commanded and I felt a rush of panic as my hand launched the knife toward my leg, burying it deep into my thigh as I gasped in pain.
“Wonderful! Now, take it out, and throw it away.” He stated casually and my hand automatically followed the instruction. It ripped the blade from my leg and tossed it aside. I didn’t understand how he was doing that, but as blood spurted from the resulting hole my new concern became not bleeding out. I put as much pressure on it as I could stand, taking my eyes off the guy for only a moment as I did so.
When I remembered him again it was because he was right in my face. He grabbed my throat in a choke hold and pushed me back hard into the wall. The force of it surprised me, he didn’t look like he should be as strong as he was. While keeping one hand over the injury in my leg I used the other to try and lose his grip but it was pointless.
He looked like he was having fun as he took a hold of my broken arm and crushed the cast in his hand. This was nothing more than a game to him, I felt the plaster break and crumble away. Then he grabbed my newly exposed wrist and twisted it until the fractured bone cracked anew. I swore in agony and a cheshire grin spread across his face.
“Are you starting to understand how this is going to work now?” He mused.
“Sorry, I’m not the quickest on the uptake.” I muttered through a clenched jaw. It probably wasn’t the best time to be snarky, but I couldn’t help myself. I thought I had a good idea of just how much he was going to hurt me by now and I figured I couldn’t make it any worse.
“Let me spell it out for you then, I have a score to settle and you are my volunteer.” He responded amused as he pulled my arm toward his mouth. I didn’t fully understand what he was doing until his teeth sank into the flesh of my upper forearm. They cut like knives right through the muscle and he shook his head like a shark biting a seal. Violently tearing the flesh away from the bone.
Blood coated his lips and dribbled down his chin as he chewed the piece without remorse. It didn’t hurt, the shock of it was still protecting me I suppose. However when I looked I saw that the chunk of muscle was missing all the way to the bone, the flesh initially was entirely white, then beads of blood began to spot up as I watched each individual little vessel begin to bleed.
I felt my head spin, I was going to faint. However as he moved to take another bite a new voice spoke. “Radomir, that’s enough.”
It seemed to catch us both by surprise for the boy momentarily paused in the attack and hesitantly looked over to see whoever had spoken, “I’m just having some fun.” He mumbled deflated.
“Humans are fragile, you could accidentally kill him by mistake.” When I dared to look over to see who had spoken I saw a second man. The upper half of his face was covered by a mask that resembled a skull. It obscured his identity in a strange way, it was as if my mind simply couldn’t process any of his features except his eyes, and they were a dusky purple.
“I’m being gentle.” Radomir complained - I can assure you, he was not.
“No, you’re behaving like a reckless child, I won’t have you mess this up a second time. Let him go.” The man scolded him, then came to stand beside me and placed a hand over the wound in my leg. I felt an ice cold sensation burn at the site of the cut and it closed over. I flinched when he looked at the bite on my arm, though he didn’t seem to care at all, blue sparks emitted from his fingertips as he stemmed the bleeding without healing the wound entirely, “I do apologise for the incompetence you’ve experienced.”
I didn’t know whether I should answer him, however I had recognised the energy he wielded. It looked like what I had seen Eric use just once or twice before and his accent was identical as well, I wondered if they were all the same kind of creature.
“Come with me.” He utilized the same strange tone Radomir had and I felt the compulsion to do as he ask wash over me. He led me away into a smaller room, I supposed it was intended to be a shop when complete, however the only thing in it was a single metal chair that was bolted to the floor.
“Sit. And don’t resist.” He commanded and I did so. However, it was the next order directed at Radomir that made me panic.
“Tie him. Tightly. No mistakes.” He stated and the boy moved to do as he was told, though he looked rather unhappy about it. He tied my ankles first to the chair legs, then my chest to the chair back, and finally he tied my arms behind the chair. He wrapped them from elbow to wrist, and attached the remaining length of cord to a bolt on the floor somewhere behind me so that I couldn’t pull free.
When he was done the man inspected his work. “Good. Keep an eye on him I’m going to go get the witch.” The bindings were particularly uncomfortable, I’m not that flexible and I could feel it in my injured arm especially.
“I had a witch..” Radomir grumbled.
“No. You gave a spell book to a teenage human girl and hoped for the best.”
“It nearly worked.”
“No it didn’t.” The man sighed as he moved to leave now. “Call me if anything happens.”
Radomir didn’t answer him that time. Instead he glared at me for a moment before following the man out of the room.
As soon as I was alone I tried to break free, I don’t know how many different ways I attempted, but all of them failed. It was useless. The bolts were well fastened to the ground, the cord I was tied with was a steel cable that dug into my skin when I struggled, and despite also shouting for help at the top of my lungs, no one answered. Eventually I wore myself out and time dragged on.
It was too cold to sleep, every time I nodded off my chin hit my chest and woke me. No one ever mentions how your legs start to ache when you can’t stretch them or the crick in your neck you get after just a few hours being tied up. It’s like being trapped on an airplane with no leg room and psychopathic flight attendants, only a bit worse.
Radomir came back eventually, he allowed me water and to use the restroom at least, then he left. He did this only once a day and that was the only interaction I had. I wasn’t sure if that was better or worse than being left in the room alone for hours on end. At night it got colder and I shivered so forcefully that my teeth chattered.
Days passed this way, then the man with the purple eyes returned. It was day 5 by my count and when he entered, the room darkened as something else followed him in. I could feel its presence in the air, it swirled like blackened ashes in the room, never resting, and spoke like a whisper on the breeze. ‘The flesh must suffer.’ It said. That was the last thing I wanted to hear.
“Do as you will. I will keep the Orphan distracted as long as I can, but he will come for you. You should be prepared for when he does.”
‘I am not afraid. He will come too late, the fates can see it.’ The shadow responded.
“Good.” He smiled, “I’ll leave this matter in your capable hands.”
I didn’t see that man again after that day, but I did become all too well equated with the other presence. It remained in the room with me, moving about restlessly. It ate rats and I could see its eyes glowing white, ‘the flesh must suffer.’ It whispered and I shivered. I was already suffering, but I knew it meant something else.
Radomir visited less and less frequently, it looked like he was uncomfortable being in the same room with it for any length of time. Especially as its structure was gradually becoming more solid. By my count two weeks passed like this. Though I can’t really say, I was tired, hungry and cold. I wondered how much longer I would last.
The night came where the witch finally took a lasting form. I felt a familiar fear fill me as she compiled herself into the embodiment of a woman, I had seen something like her before. A burned woman. Though this one was somehow different from the last. Her skin was naturally dark, while her hair and eyes were both white. She was beautiful in a terrifying way, and though her expression wasn’t unkind, her presence deeply unsettled me.
She reached out to touch my face, caressing my cheek in her hand as she leant in to whisper in my ear, “It is almost time now. The Flesh, must suffer.”
“I am suffering.” I assured her, then I tried to reason, “But you can just let me go, it’s not too late to do that.”
At this, she laughed. It was a strange sound, far off and simultaneously too close, it echoed unnaturally in the small room. Then, to my surprise, she turned and left. When she returned it was late at night, I only knew she was there because the doorway dimmed as she passed through it. In her hands she carried what looked like herbs, a bunch of twigs and a knife. She laid the items out very carefully on the floor in front of me, then stuffed some of the herbs in her mouth and started chewing them.
“What are you doing?” I questioned hoping to at least delay her in whatever was coming next.
She regurgitated the herbs out onto her hand to answer me, “The Flesh must be prepared.”
The change in phrase was refreshing at least. However, she then put the soggy half crushed plant back in her mouth and continued to masticate it. If I had anything to throw up, I probably would have at that point. While she chewed she took up the knife, I saw its blade glint in the darkness and heard her shuffle along the floor over to me.
“Wait, wait. Can we talk about this for a minute?” I tried, straining to recoil from her as much as I could knowing nothing involving a knife at this point would be good. This time she didn’t answer, however I felt her hands in my hair and heard the soft slice as she cut some of it off. I’m not exactly sure what she did with it, but I believe she put it in her mouth to munch along with the herbs.
“My three monthly haircut isn’t due yet, just so you know.” I informed her though she continued to ignore me.
The witch sat on the floor in front of me the remainder of the night, I could hear her making something and the wet slosh of the concoction in her mouth. As daylight broke I was able to see that she was making charms, they were neatly made with sticks, rat bones and her own hair. Periodically she would spit some of the herbs onto each and smear it in.
For the rest of the day she moved in and out of the room at irregular intervals. I could tell she was doing something in the next room, though I couldn’t see what exactly from the position I was. In the afternoon Radomir entered, he saw the charms on the floor and scrunched his nose in disgust. “Filthy.” He muttered as he carefully stepped over them to approach me.
“At least you didn’t have to listen to her making them all night-” I commented.
“Quiet.” He ordered cutting me off and I felt my jaw lock up obediently. “You are not to resist.” He instructed as he then began to undo the cables from my legs and chest. I was a little confused, I didn’t need the bathroom, I was far too dehydrated for that by now. So I wasn’t sure what was happening as he unlatched the cord from the bolt behind and allowed me to stand.
“Walk to the next room.” He commanded and I began to move, though my knees nearly gave out on me as I did. It was a strange sensation, my body was nearly too weak to follow the order on its own, but whenever I faltered an unnatural pain flared up from within, forcing me to continue on.
Entering back into the main part of the building I could see some major upgrades had happened. On the floor a massive pentagram had been carved into the concrete and from the ceiling above it was a mirroring second pentagram made of interwoven tree branches. The witch stood waiting in the center of it all, and she beckoned for Radomir to bring me to her.
“Kneel.” The new instruction came as we reached the heart of the pentagram and I obediently sunk to my knees before the witch. Radomir then re-secured my bindings to the floor there. Leaving me unable to stand and unable to remove myself from the middle of the symbol. Panic was beginning to fill me again, I had a feeling this was especially not good.
“Do you need anything else? Or can I leave now. I don’t want to be here when your kind of magic fills the air.” He sneered.
She didn’t answer him then, simply pointed an arm toward the door for him to leave and he took the invitation without any hesitation. The witch waited for him to leave, then retrieved the charms she had made from the other room and set about placing one at each point of the pentagram. When she was done, she turned her attention to me and I felt my insides wither.
The witch moved about, making her final preparations, bringing some small bones close and setting down metal bowls with flames in them for light as the sun set. When she seemed good and ready she came to sit uncomfortably close in front of me with a knife in hand. “This is getting a little too freaky for me now.” I commented, which seemed to amuse her though she maintained her silence and I realized she was still holding something in her mouth.
She took the knife up and I drew a sharp breath in. My heart was pounding as I knew this was it and I closed my eyes so I didn’t have to see. I felt the blade slice into the skin, creating only a shortcut on my chest above my heart as I gasped in pain and shock from the surprise of it. Considering what I had been expecting, this was mild and I opened my eyes again unsurely.
That’s when I saw her spit some of the herbs and hair back into her hand.
“Oh.. No, no, please no.” I begged as I realized what she was about to do. In response she smiled and she smeared the paste into the open wound. It burned as if she had just poured alcohol into it and I saw a red energy spark as she pressed it in. I shouted in agony trying to get impossibly further away from the source of the pain.
“Shhhh~” the sound came from her throat and she held leant in to kiss my lips, forcing some of the mixture into my mouth as she did causing me to gag.
Of course I tried to spit it out, but she held my nose and mouth until I swallowed it. Then she took up one of the small bones from nearby and plucked a few strands of her own hair out to make a needle and thread. Without any hesitation she began sewing up the cut she had created. Pushing the bone needle through the stretchy skin until it popped out the other side, then looping it over and pulling the long hair through it agonizingly slow to force the two halves of the cut back together.
She took her time in this same way with each stitch. Of course I squirmed and swore under my breath, but she cared not at all. To my dismay she repeated this process several more times, cutting the skin, spit mixture, smear, sew. Over and over. I don’t know how many she got up to before I lost consciousness.
I’m not sure how long I was out, but as I came back too slowly I could feel immediately that something was wrong. I was no longer tied and it was hard to open my eyes, as if they were being forced closed. I felt warm and heavy, a regrettably familiar pain electrified my veins and I knew then that I wasn’t alone in my own body anymore.
To my horror I realized I could hear voices.
“Charles!” It was my name, but it was spoken in a strained octave and sounded far from me. If I didn’t know better, I would have said it was my little sister who had spoken.
Then I felt a hand on my knee and the back of a cold hand under my chin tilting my head up. “…Alive, at least.” I was sure that was Eric, it’s hard to mistake his voice. I don’t know why he sounded so relieved though, couldn’t he tell something was wrong? I felt him press his forehead to mine as he spoke again.
“Charles.. Can you hear me? You have to fight this. I can’t help you if you don’t fight it…” He whispered.
I couldn’t make sense of what he was saying, I wanted to tell him that he needed to run. Both he and Claire.. Needed to leave. I felt my skin start to burn and Eric moved back.
“Claire this is too dangerous now you need to leave.”
“If you’re not leaving I’m not!”
God my sister was stubborn.
There was a hiss of movement through the air and Claire screamed. I heard metal connect sharply against something and Eric swore softly.
“Just as the fates predicted, you’re too late little Kopjan.” I heard the witch’s strange voice echo, she seemed pleased.
“Don’t call me that.” Eric stated firmly, largely ignoring her statement, he sounded further away now.
Another brief moment of quiet passed then they began fighting in earnest. I could hear the air displacement between people navigating quickly around each other, and the impact of weapons hitting, skin slicing, blood dripping onto the floor. Stranger still was that I could unverifiably feel who was where. I knew for example, that my sister was by the scaffolding toward the back on the left, and I could tell Eric was somewhere close to the witch.
My senses were heightened and I could feel a pressure building as my will was being rapidly suppressed, until all at once the world suddenly came back into focus and my eyes snapped open. “’Finally’” The word came from my mouth but it was in no way my own, the voice was lower than mine was naturally and had a rougher texture. It felt wrong.
I felt a rush of power surge through me as an energy ignited from within and burned my nerves as it surfaced. We turned slowly looking around the room, I could see so much more than I could before with my human eyes. The energy that surrounded the witch was massive. It reached upwards almost to the second floor and was bright at the point of concentration in the palms of her hands, then dissipated outward into a darker red color as she wielded it.
Looking at Claire there was a stark difference, what surrounded her was more like a white lining. It didn’t move or flicker, rather it emitted like a glow from all around her. I supposed, that was what humans looked like to other things? Our attention turned to Eric and I saw his aura for the second time in my life. It was just as it was before, a shimmery blue and gray energy that twisted like a slow flame. Though it was considerably smaller than the witches and that made me concerned, did it mean he had less of whatever it was?
‘Yes’ the answer to my question echoed through my mind. ‘We will kill him now.’
‘No, I don’t want to.’ I thought in protest and in response a deep laugh rattled through my chest. The thing possessing me was laughing at me, with my own lungs.
We proceeded towards Eric as he concentrated on the witch, and I began to worry that we were going to catch him by surprise. Then I saw his eyes flick over to me for just a second and he readjusted to move away. Good, at least he understood I wasn’t his friend right now. However, as we approached a spear began to form in my hand, I was sure it was made of nothing but pure energy but the weight of it sent waves of pain up my arm.
The thing in me launched it at Eric with incredible precision right as the witch struck out at him. He managed to narrowly avoid both attacks, however the explosion the spear caused when it hit the wall above him sent chunks of concrete flying, and as he was distracted by that the witch caught a hold of him.
I saw her energy burn through his and heard him curse as she threw him away into a wall. Before he could recover I was suddenlt holding him by the throat and slamming him back into the wall with enough force to crack the concrete. I saw blood trickle down through his dark hair and out the corner of his mouth.
“You have to fight it.” He hissed in pain and I heard myself laugh.
“’He can’t hear you now.’” The voice that wasn’t my own lied as it answered for me.
Another power surge was beginning to build, then suddenly something hit me across the back of the head. I felt the thing inside me hesitate as well, confused as the lump of debris bounced off us and rolled across the floor. We turned slowly to see Claire holding a pipe ready to swing it, “Let him go! He’s your friend Charles!” She shouted. She was trembling, I wondered what I looked like to her now for my little sister to look at me with so much fear.
“You’re going to kill him and he’s your friend!” She repeated, “He tried so hard to find you and I said some horrible things to him that I haven’t apologized for yet so you can’t kill him before I-“
We dropped Eric and cut Claire off mid sentence. All of our attention turned to her and we hit her with enough energy to send her flying across the room. She landed heavily against scaffolding and didn’t move again. I thought I had killed her outright and I felt my heart break. That seemed to delight the other spirit, I could feel its pure joy over my agony.
‘One down.’ It told me and that sparked an anger I didn’t even know I had. It seared away the pain to form an iron resolve. From then on, I was fighting. Every move it tried to make with my body I protested. Though it felt like I was doing nothing as it looked back to try and find Eric again.
He was climbing up to the second level and we rushed over to him to pull him down again. Thankfully he was ready for us this time, as we reached up to grab him he stabbed his sword through my shoulder. I would forgive him for that later. It hurt, as expected, but it seemed to actively burn the thing inside me and for a moment its presence actually withdrew from my shoulder. Until it pulled the sword out at least.
“Silver, hurts doesn’t it?” Eric taunted, but I knew he was giving me a clue.
“’Silence.’” It responded as we pursued him.
Below us the witch was starting to carve more symbols into the floor and I understood she was going to summon more demons if she was able to complete them. I was distracted momentarily by this realization and when I refocused on Eric I saw that he was trapped. We’d chased him to the part of the building where the upper layer had collapsed and he was standing on the edge.
“‘Nowhere left to run~’” It mocked him.
Eric glanced over the edge, I could tell he was calculating the distance. “Charles, now would be a really good time for you to do something.”
I don’t think he realized I was already doing everything I could.
“‘Charles is gone.’” The thing informed him and I saw Eric grit his teeth, did he believe that? I couldn’t tell.
The thing began to charge up again, making another spear and as it threw it at him I did my best to offset its aim. I can’t say how well I did, but it didn’t land a direct hit. However, it was still enough to push Eric off the edge and I saw him go down with a small flare of energy to cushion his fall.
Relief was instant when I saw him get up again, though the blue aura around him was burning low now and I could tell he was almost out of energy. ‘If he runs out of magic, he dies.’ It purred as we followed after him.
Running straight off the edge as well and landing perfectly, creating a small crater when we did. However as the dust settled I realized we couldn’t see Eric. I felt my eyes move side to side as it looked for him, then suddenly he came out of nowhere. He used his right hand and caught us by surprise with an uppercut punch to the lower jaw that knocked us backwards. I had never been so happy to be punched.
We stumbled and before we could recover Eric was back, running the silver sword through my side, causing the thing in me to howl in pain. I felt hope bubble within me, he was going to do it. He was going to be able to kill us, then he could stop the witch and save Claire, it was going to be okay…
Instead, Eric slipped. I don’t know whether it was dizziness from his head injury, the slick of his blood on an uneven surface or the last black symbol evaporating from the hip of his left leg… It didn’t matter, the second he faltered it was over. Energy formed in my hand like a red hot dagger and aimed directly toward his heart. I used every last drop of willpower I could find to stop it, but I couldn’t. It was going to hit and I knew it.
Then the air exploded. Eric’s blue energy crackled violently, sending sparks in all directions and entirely devouring the red energy we gave off. I had no idea how he managed that, it was so bright I couldn’t even see what had taken place until the intensity of it died down, then I knew what had happened. It wasn’t Eric’s magic, there was a man I had never seen before holding my fist in one hand and holding Eric up from falling with the other.
He was no older than I, younger maybe even, and had short ash blonde hair. His eyes burned teal in color and the aura he had flared behind him like wings. The expression this man had was one of pure rage and I felt fear course through the thing possessing me. To be perfectly honest, it scared me too.
“Please don’t kill him!” I heard Eric shout, panic clear in his voice and the next thing I knew we were thrown backward. The force of it pushed us through two walls before we came to rest in the crater of the third. I coughed on dust and it felt like every bone in my body had broken.
The situation had completely changed now. In addition to this man, two others had arrived. A girl with white hair who I recognised instantly from the snow, and a taller man beside her. The girl’s aura was the same as Claire’s, a human, while the second man was blue.
Eric noticed them too and begrudgingly allowed himself to slowly sink to the floor. He coughed violently and wiped away the bright red blood that trickled from his mouth with his sleeve. Then he leant back against the wall exhausted and the man knelt down with him, “Are you alright?” He asked tensely.
“Just, spectacular.” Eric answered sarcastically.
The man looked less than pleased with his remark, “Wait here. I’ll take care of this.”
“Don’t kill him Nathaniel… Please.”
He seemed to struggle to find an answer for Eric. I saw him reach out to lightly touch his hair and when his fingertips came away bloody his expression turned cold. “I’ll make you a deal. As long as you draw breath, I won’t kill him. But if you die here, I will ensure his life ends miserably, alright?”
“That’s… Unfair…” Eric murmured and I understood him to mean that he wasn’t sure he was going to live.
“Those are the terms.” Nathaniel responded simply as he now turned his attention to the other two, “Markos, take care of the witch. Calla, stay with Eric.” He barked the orders and they moved immediately to do as they were told.
Then he turned to me, his eyes held more hatred than they had before I was sure. He rushed at us and the thing responded quickly to avoid. Everything hurt more now, I could feel my body failing with all the injuries. We weren’t as fast as before, simply because it was slow to run on broken legs.
The battle didn’t last long after that. When we met head on with Nathaniel our energies clashed explosively, pushing us both back like two positive ends of a magnet. But that didn’t stop him, I watched as his aura dimmed on the approach then flared again as we connected. I got the impression that he knew how to manage it far better than the thing possessing me did.
Now, I don’t know what happened to the witch. But eventually Nathaniel had us cornered. He kept us restrained with a hand on my neck and placed his other hand over the first cut the witch had made on my chest. I’m not sure what he did, but the pain was blinding. I have never felt anything like that in my life and hope to never feel it again. Far worse than the last possession. I could feel the demon burning alive within me, it screamed, I screamed, and when it was over I knew I was going to pass out.
However as I struggled to maintain consciousness I saw Nathaniel walk back over to Eric. He gave some instruction to the white haired girl and she began to make her way over to me. Then I heard him speak louder to Markos, ordering him to get my sister. He picked her up effortlessly and she hung limp in his arms… She was definitely dead I thought.
The girl crouched down beside me, “Will you pass out? I can’t carry you, but I can support you. You need to walk.” She told me without any emotion but I wasn’t really listening. I was watching Nathaniel with Eric.
Eric seemed mostly gone, but his eyes fluttered slightly when Nathaniel crouched down with him, “Did you kill him?” He asked softly.
“No.” He responded calmly.
“Thank you.” Eric murmured, starting to close his eyes.
“Don’t.” Nathaniel said with a slight edge to his voice as he gently tilted his chin up, “Remember our terms, it’s only as long as you draw breath that I don’t kill him.”
“That’s so unreasonable… I don’t think… I have much choice anymore…” he admitted softly. He sounded calm still, but I could tell it was the wrong kind of calm. It was the kind you see in people who have no more energy for anything else as they fade away. “Please let him live… I’m sorry.” he made the final request as he closed his eyes to rest. I couldn’t see the aura’s anymore without the demon’s eyes so I couldn’t tell if Eric’s had gone out completely.
However Nathaniel sighed softly, “You’re the one who told me once that we always have a choice.” He murmured, his expression was unreadable then as he leant in closer. His lips brushed against Eric’s and it looked like he breathed a blue orb into his mouth as he slowly pulled away.
The moments immediately after passed with an unbearable slowness, I’m not sure what I was waiting for exactly.. But when Eric coughed and winced in Nathaniel’s arms that was good enough for me. Relief crashed over me like a tsunami and I felt my world slip into blackness.
I don’t know how much time passed before I woke up again. But when I did, I was in another hospital room hooked up to a drip. Bandages covered my torso, one arm and a leg on the same side. The chair beside my bed was piled with giftsand I took a moment to orientate myself.
Using the IV stand to support myself I gingerly got up to follow the sound. In the next room Claire was sitting up in her hospital bed, smiling and laughing with a tub of custard in her hands. She was wearing a blue hospital gown, one of her eyes was bruised a deep purple, her hair a mess and her arm was in a cast. But none of that stopped her from shoveling the food into her mouth.
The man I had heard called Markos was sitting on the end of her bed. He watched her with an expression somewhere between pure confusion and mild interest as she chartered away. I got the impression that they knew each other somewhat and I wondered exactly how much I had missed.
“Usually hospital food is ssoooo bad, but this is good. I mean it’s actually good.” She was trying hard to convince him.
“I wouldn’t know.” He answered bemused.
“Ohhh you can eat it though right? I mean I’ve seen you eat stuff.. So surely you can eat this? I swear it’s good! You should try some, do you want to try some? Here!” She insisted and all but forced the spoon of custard at him.
He looked like he was struggling to find a way to politely decline her offer but couldn’t quite manage to come up with anything in time as he reluctantly accepted being fed.
“Gawd It’s just custard!” Claire laughed harder then noticed me, “Charles you’re awake!” She said excitedly.
“Yeah, how are you?” I asked, feeling a twinge of guilt.
“Oh, I’m fine now!” She assured me quickly.
“Where are the others?”
“They’re with Eric, I don’t think he’s awake yet. But this is Markos.” She introduced me.
“Nice to meet you.” He said pleasantly though when he looked over to me I felt a chill run down my spine, I hadn’t noticed his eyes were purple before.
“You too…” I said halfheartedly, then left to find Eric. ***
I hobbled down the hallway checking each room as I went, though it was hardly necessary as I could soon hear yelling echoing down the hallways.
“You placed a gift on my lungs!” It was definitely Eric shouting.
“They were full of holes!”
“You had no right!”
“You seem happy enough to use them to yell at me now, so I don’t see what the problem is.”
Irritated silence.
“What did you expect me to do? You weren’t going to make it! Next time I’ll simply let you die then?” Nathaniel continued exasperated when Eric didn’t answer him.
“That would be preferable.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” He snorted.
“It’s my life Nathaniel, you don’t get to preside over whether or not it ends-“ He stopped when he spotted me in the doorway. Nathaniel was sitting beside him on one side of the bed, and Calla was resting against him on the other side.
“Charles.” He greeted me surprised. “Calla just checked on you a few minutes ago and you weren’t awake.”
“He wasn’t.” She agreed in monotone.
“You know her?” I asked skeptically, remembering she had shot an arrow at Claire and I previously.
“It’s okay, she won’t hurt you.” Eric assured.
I chose to believe him on that point as I stepped into the room. Though I have to say, it was Nathaniel that made me nervous, his eyes weren’t the teal blue I had seen before and they watched me suspiciously as if I would hurt Eric again.
“Not possessed anymore. I promise.” I joked to lighten the mood.
“Are you alright though?” Eric asked, looking skeptical as I leant on the stand for support.
I smiled, “Yeah, thanks for saving me again.”
“It’s fine. But, maybe stay away from witches from now on.”