New story! New genre (nail biting gasp)! This is a challenge from my therapist, she has been wanting me to write more than just smut for months, so here is my first attempt at a paranormal horror fic! If you all hate it, I totally understand, but at least let me get a little further into the possession before you all decide you hate it. This is not for the faint of heart or the weak willed.
"For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgement;" 2 Peter 2:4 ESV
Olivia looked up at the sign above the window, Madame Celeste. Palm Reading, Tarot Cards, Tea Leaves. She took a deep breath and opened the door. It was on the insistence of her dear friend Morgan. After her breakup with Brian, Morgan suggested she go see Madame Celeste to get some answers, because quite frankly she wanted to know if she was ever going to get her happy ending. She put it off for a while, not wanting to mess with any form of divination.
Truthfully, she thought psychics were full of shit. She didn't believe in them, she didn't believe in demons, and she didn't believe in God, per say. She believed in a higher power but she didn't have a name for this Supreme Being. She finally agreed after Morgan hounded her relentlessly for weeks, the insistence only getting worse after her final ordeal with William Lewis. Because she wanted some peace and quiet, she agreed.
She opened the door and saw a tall woman with long curly blonde hair dressed in a flowing dress with a headscarf acting like a headband. She had an abundance of bracelets and rings on and a pendant around her neck. Olivia smiled gently. "Madame Celeste?"
"Yes, dear. You must be Olivia. Morgan told me to be expecting you." She looked Olivia over and her smile reached her light hazel eyes. "You're tense. There's nothing to be nervous about my child. Just think of this as talking to an old friend."
Olivia looked at the woman who was slightly older than she and she nodded. "Right," she took a deep breath. "So how does this work, this whole psychic thing?"
"Well, since it seems like you're apprehensive how about we read your tea leaves? The tea will help relax your nerves a little bit."
Olivia smiled gently. "Uh, that sounds good I guess."
Madame Celeste walked her back behind a purple curtain and instructed Olivia to sit in one of the chairs. Madame Celeste put on a tea pot and once the water was boiling she poured the water on top of the leaves in a cup for Olivia. She put the cup on a saucer in front of Olivia and smiled. Olivia sipped the tea as Madame Celeste lit a few purple candles.
Olivia looked around and noticed there was mistletoe around the room. "Are you a big fan of Christmas?" she asked, noting mentally that it was the middle of June.
"I celebrate the solstice, but I also just find mistletoe interesting, it's almost metaphorical. Most people use it as a symbol of love, which is its primary meaning, but mistletoe is a parasitic plant. It feeds on whatever it grows on, kind of like love. One partner always feeds off the other."
Olivia nodded. "That is… interesting. I guess I never thought of it that way. The mistletoe or… love. Heck it seems more like a metaphor for my life. My job is the mistletoe and it's constantly feeding off me, taking a little bit more of me every day," she said gently, working on her tea.
"I tell that to everyone who asks, and you'd be surprised just how many people have that same reaction. They always find something in their lives is parasitic."
Olivia finished her tea shortly after their mistletoe conversation and Madame Celeste took her tea cup, beginning to read her tea leaves. "I see an anchor in here, towards the top of the cup. That means you'll be successful in both business and romance." The older woman's face fell. "I also see an arrow and a coffin, both of which mean bad news, and a flag meaning danger."
Olivia let out a breath. "I can't catch a break, can I," she said and shook her head. She didn't know why she was taking this so seriously. She didn't believe in this anyway, she was just trying to shut Morgan up. She nodded. "Anything else I should be worried about?"
"I see a monster and a nail, signifying terror and malice."
"Perfect. Look, Madame Celeste, not that I don't appreciate this but I think I'm done now, I don't need any more bad news, no pun intended," she said gently, standing up, pulling out her wallet.
Madame Celeste stood quickly and rested her hand on Olivia's. "No dear, please it's fine. And take this, it will protect you from any evil that may come your way," she said softly, taking the pendant from around her neck and putting it on Olivia's.
Olivia looked at her and nodded. "Thanks," she said gently, walking out of the dark shop and onto the streets of New York, her eyes sensitive to the light. She squinted and started off towards her apartment, stopping at a bodega to get something to eat on her way home. That night she felt a little weird for the rest of the day, but she figured it was just because of what her tea leaves said… all the negativity. She showered and crawled into bed, knowing she had an early day tomorrow.
During the night she had a strange dream. She was walking through Central Park at night when she saw a strong looking man on a pale horse. The mad had a tail like a snake and she was confused as it whizzed through her, hitting her with force but seeming not to injure her. She gasped and sat up, she felt the temperature in the apartment drop and she looked around. Her breath was heavy and she felt her skin on her face, it was cool and clammy. She climbed out of bed and walked to the kitchen to get a glass of water.
As she downed the glass she heard footsteps and she put the glass down. "Hello?" she asked quietly, grabbing a knife, walking through the apartment, trying to find the source of the footsteps, and now the quiet voice that was calling her name. "I'm just tired," she whispered to herself. "I'll go back to bed and I'll feel better in the morning." And that's what she did. She went back to bed and fell back to sleep, waking up at 6 AM with her alarm with a burning pain in the center of her back. She got up and walked to the bathroom and took her shirt off to investigate. On her back were scratch marks that appeared to be from a human hand.
But this was impossible, she hadn't seen with anyone since Madame Celeste, and she didn't scratch her. There was no way they were self-inflicted, even if Olivia were double jointed, which she wasn't, there was no way she would be able to reach that spot in her back. The bathroom started to feel cold and she looked at herself in the mirror, noticing that she looked tired, weary. She let out a breath. "What is going on?" she asked looking around.
She quickly got ready for work, grabbing her keys and her phone, calling Morgan on her way to work. Morgan answered in her usual chipper voice. "Hey! Did you go see Madame Celeste yet?"
"Yeah, and I have a bone to pick with you."
"What do you mean?"
"She read my tea leaves and since I left her I've felt very weird ever since. I woke up with scratches on my back, I don't know what's going on and it's scaring me. She scared me just looking at her, she's insanely tall for a woman."
"Tall? Liv, Madame Celeste is only five feet tall."
"What are you talking about? She looked like an insanely tall Lady Godiva, only I think her hair was a little shorter and she wasn't naked."
"Okay, now I know you must have gone to the wrong person. She's five foot tall and has shoulder length red hair."
Olivia let out a breath as she walked up the steps to the sixteenth precinct. "Morgan, what the hell is going on here?"
Morgan let out a breath. "I don't know. Just, make sure you pay attention to what's going on. Make note of it, let me know if anything crazy goes on."
"Crazy? How about the fact that I woke up with scratches in the center of my back?" she asked angrily.
"Liv, calm down."
Olivia took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I don't know what that was," she said gently.
"It's okay, just keep me in the loop okay?"
Olivia nodded. "I will, I'll talk to you later," she said with a small smile as she hung up, walking into the sixteenth precinct.
A/N: This chapter was a little shorter than I like, but this was just setting the stage, the beginning stage of the possession. It's going to get worse, it's going to get ugly. Reviews are always appreciated, here or on Twitter, UnbrokenBarista!