Reality Rain-check
CHAPTER 02
By: The Mistress~
"Oh god. He's here."
Erin gasped in horror and stilled completely for a brief second before she harshly pushed herself out of Tori's arms. She ran back into the living room, leaving her two friends confused and a little scared behind her. Catherine broke from her shock first and sighed. She adjusted her purse on her shoulder before rushing after her friend with Tori trailing right behind her.
They found Erin frantically rummaging around in her large bag looking for something and making frustrated sounds. She couldn't seem to find what she was looking for in her panicked state so she turned her bag upside down and started dumping its contents onto the middle of the floor. A book fell from the bag and landed with a 'thud' on the wooden floor. Erin let out a crow of triumph when she picked up the old leather bound book. She hugged it to her chest like it was her child before darting past her two very confused friends and into the kitchenette.
She tore open cabinets and drawers, shuffling through them all desperately looking for something. Tori and Catherine just watched her from the kitchen doorway, both silently wondering if their friend lost her mind. They both jumped suddenly in shock when Erin yelled out happily while she gripped a box of salt in her hand like it was a trophy. This just confounded Catherine and Tori more than they already were. Before either woman could utter a confused query Erin dashed past them once again, this time heading for the living room.
Catherine and Tori watched their friend push the couch and coffee table to the corners of the room so the middle was bare. Erin delicately sat the old leather book down on the couch before opening the salt container and slowly drawing a large circle in the middle of the hardwood floor. Catherine didn't know how to handle any of this. She couldn't just stand by and watch her friend go crazy. So she pulled out her cell phone and dialed 911, hoping they could bring an ambulance or some cops to help her friend. She hit send and waited, watching as Erin started on drawing a square inside the circle. She make sure each corner of the square was touching some part of the circle.
"Hello. 911 operator, what is the nature of your emergency?" said the emotionless female operator.
"Yes, hello, I think my friend needs to go to a hospital, she's acting really weird and it's scaring me and and my other friend Tori." she said in a rush. Meanwhile Erin finished making the salt circle and tossed the empty container aside and pulled her friends into the circle and told them to stay inside it.
"What's your name miss?" asked the operator.
"My name's Catherine Bennett." she wished the woman would just skip passed all the protocol bullshit and help her friend. Catherine missed what the operator said next because when the lights flickered on and off again Erin screamed in real fear, drowning out the operators monotone voice.
"Hello? Hello miss? Who was that screaming? Are you in trouble?" the operator started to sound a bit worried.
Catherine was about to answer her but Erin started breathing heavily, her hands started to shake, and she paled dramatically. She looked like she was having a panic attack. Tori and Catherine were afraid she was going to faint so they both started toward her to catch her just in case she fainted but backed up when Erin suddenly screamed, "No! DO NOT, under ANY circumstance, leave that circle or you WILL die!"
"Miss! What is going on? Where are you? I can't send help for you if you don't tell me where you are!"Catherine felt like sobbing but knew it wouldn't help the situation. So with half of her focus on her friend and the other on the operator Catherine said, "We're at Bowstone Hill Apartments on the corner of 40th Street and 2nd, near Park Avenue and the East River! Apartment number fifteen!" Catherine felt a cold chill creep into her bones but didn't know where the cold came from.
"Miss? Remain calm and stay in the apartment, I'm sending an ambulance and some officers over." the now fully unnerved operator yelled on the other end of the phone. But Tori and Catherine were too distracted by Erin's worrying state to hear her. Erin was close to full out hyperventilating. She knew she didn't have time to make a proper protection circle so she settled with making a temporary one.
She had just enough time to show Catherine and Tori how to make it stronger but that was it. She picked up the book and turned it so both Tori and Catherine could see the page she was on. It had a small representation of the circle they were standing on in it.
"Okay you two, listen!" When she was sure they were both paying attention she started going through a brief run through of the instructions. She told them they were standing in your basic witches power circle, it was a basic spell circle. It could be applied to many different types of spells. All you needed to differentiate between the different spells were the spoken words and the amount of blood used. Some spells required more than blood, like herbs or crystals, but all spells no matter how big or small required some amount of the castors blood.
Erin explained that all they had to do was drip four and only four drops of blood in the circle, and then recite the words from the marked page in the book. Erin figured that the spell was so simple that there was no way for it to mess up. With that out of the way Erin tried to remember if she was forgetting anything. She gasped when she remembered that they would need something to prick their fingers with for the blood part of the spell.
She made sure to tell them once again not to leave the circle. She rushed back over to her things that were strewn on the floor and started looking through them for a particular object. After looking and looking she started to fret that she'd left it back at her dorm but just as she thought that she found it. 'It' being a medium size silver switch blade with a pearl grip and swirling flower details. She found it one day in an old antique shop and fell in love with it. She knew she just had to have it for her rituals.
She grabbed the switchblade and her small bag of rose quarts crystals just to give her friends an extra boost. She figured with her not going to be alive for much longer that somebody should get some use from them. And them being used to help her friends seemed like a good cause.
She pressed the hidden button on the switch blade and smiled when it opened with a soft click. She sighed and smiled at her friends before handing the open book with the bag of crystals on top to Catherine and the silver knife to Tori. She knew he would be there any second and wanted to say goodbye to her two best friends before he arrived for her.
"Catherine~ Tori~ I'm sorry I dragged you both into this." Tori opened her mouth to speak but Erin cut her off. "Please you guys, let me just say what I have to okay? I really don't have much time and I need to get this out." Catherine and Tori both shared an apprehensive glance but Catherine nodded for her to continue.
Erin took a deep shuddering breath and gave them both a teary smile. "I know if I don't tell you both now how much I love you guys I'll never get the chance. And I do love you both, you are my two best and closest friends in the world and I'm sad we didn't get more time together. Now I know you're both wondering what's going on and why I'm acting so crazy yeah?" She received two hesitant nods so continued.
"To put it simply...I summoned a demon." Catherine gasped in horror and Tori's mouth hung open in shock. If the situation weren't so deathly serious Erin would have found their expressions funny. Both girls were too shocked to say anything so Erin plowed on. "I know I'm really stupid. I didn't even want to really, I just wanted to see if I could." She was going to say more but the sound of a light bulb bursting from the other side of the apartment halted anymore conversation. Her time was almost up, she had to hurry.
Erin dearly wished there was a spell in her families spell book to turn back time. If there was then she could go back and stop herself from ever doing that dark ritual. She knew performing dark 'majiks' was like playing with fire. But at the time she was too arrogant to realize how much trouble she as getting into. She figured that if anything bad were to happen then all she'd have to do was open her families spell book and voila~there would be a spell to save her. But there wasn't.
She'd accidentally summoned an incubare, or in English...an incubus.
She hadn't meant for any of this to happen. She'd only done the summoning to see if she actually could. To see if she had enough power to summon demon. Even a simple low level one. And if it turned out she could then she was going to banish it right afterwards. But she made a mistake. The spell she found was too powerful and instead of summoning something simple like a pinion snake she summoned a woman's worst nightmare. An incubus. A demon with the sole purpose of raping women.
When she realized just what she'd brought forth she panicked and tried to destroy the sacred spell circle so the spell would cancel itself. When the demon vanished from sight she thought she was safe and that it was gone. But unbeknownst to her the incubus scented her as it was sent away, and with her scent it could find her no matter where she tried to hide.
And in the weeks following the disastrous summoning weird things started happening around her. It was little things at first; odd noises at night, strange scents assaulting her. But she figured it was only a wandering spirit, so she burned some sage to cleanse her dorm room and afterwards everything went back to normal.
For a time anyways. Then things really got scary. Things would move when her back was turned, lights around her would flicker on and off, and all of her electronics eventually went on the fritz. It terrified her to the point where she left her dorm and got a hotel room. But it didn't stop, it followed her there too. And she knew her sage and protection spells and crystals would hold him off for only so long.
A week prior Tori told her that she was going to be leaving school for a few days to attend her great aunt Lillian's funeral. She also mentioned stopping by Catherine's place for a visit. Erin saw it as an opportunity to see her best friends one last time so she asked her if she could go with her. Tori thought that it would be fun to surprise Catherine with a slumber party.
They left the next day.
POP!
Another light bulb shattering in the apartment broke Erin from her thoughts and alerted her to how close hewas. He would be there in the living room with them any second.
Erin hastily grabbed Catherine's hand and took the switchblade and nicked her finger before handing it back to a surprised Tori. Catherine cried out more from shock than any actual pain and fearfully watched Erin squeeze her finger and drip two drops of blood at their feet. Tori and Catherine almost screamed when the salt circle glowed a faint white before going back to normal.
Tori and Catherine were really scared. They believed Erin when she said she summoned a demon. They both knew she wouldn't lie or joke about something so serious. And Catherine knew now that the 'he' her friend said was coming to get her was in fact said demon. And the thought of a monster from Hell coming and taking her friend terrified her more than anything in the world.
Catherine's whole body shivered when suddenly the temperature in the room felt like it dropped to 10 below. She looked at her two friends and saw them shivering just as badly as she was, and she noticed that they could all see the puffs of their breath now. Tori jumped when the tv flicked on suddenly, showing a screen full of silent static.
Tori and Catherine unknowingly huddled closer together in the protection circle in fear. All three women screamed when the lights in the room exploded all at once. The only light in the room now was from the snow filled tv and the bright moon shining in from outside the window.
For a stagnant moment the room was almost mute, the tv wasn't even making any sound. The sole bit of sound was coming from Erin. Her near hyperventilated breathing was alarmingly loud in the hushed apartment. And then another almost unnoticeable din started mixing with Erin's heavy breathing. Catherine thought it sounded almost exactly like when air is slowly released from a bottle of soda after you shake it then slowly turn the cap.
The med student was wondering where the low sound was coming from when Tori all at once painfully gripped her arm. Catherine gasped in discomfort and looked at her friend and saw her staring wide eyed at the dark hallway. She didn't see anything at first but after a second of squinting and letting her eyes adjust to the dark area she saw it.
And when she did every single hair on her body stood on end at the sight of such a horrifying creature.
You couldn't really see anything other than a basic outline and the two white rings that were its irises. Its hands ended in unnaturally long claws that were faintly twitching like it was anxious to move. You could barely distinguish the black skin of the creature from the pitch dark hallway it was loitering in. There was almost no contrast, it was reminiscent to a silhouette standing on a black backdrop. Everything about the creature was black save for its eyes, which could only be compared to an owls eyes. They were uncannily wide and unblinking. And they were staring directly at Erin.
Time seemed to freeze. Or at least slow to an unbearable snails pace. Nobody and nothing in the room moved in those moments. And then a split second later time distorted. It seemed to be going in fast forward.
Catherine blinked and the creature and Erin were gone. She thought they had disappeared. But then she registered Erin's agonized screams. She and Tori whipped their heads to look at the opposite corner of the room where the demon was literally tearing into Erin. From where they stood they could only see the back of the creature and parts of Erin. But what parts of her you could see were covered in deep gashes exuding blood.
Tori couldn't just stand there and watch some monster kill her friend so without thinking she roughly handed the still open switchblade to Catherine and went to step out of the circle. It didn't even cross her mind that she had handed a weapon to her friend that she could have used on the creature. Her mind was so riddled with terror that she was unable to form any real cognitive thought.
Catherine absently caught the knife before it fell but in the process it sliced open her palm. A steady stream of blood filtered onto the book and to the floor beneath them. She didn't pick up on her injury. She was too pumped full of adrenaline to feel anything, not even the pain of a knife slicing her flesh.
Catherine was openly weeping as she was forced to watch the demon lacerated Erin. It was a horrifying spectacle. Catherine couldn't figure out how things had shifted so drastically. The night changed from her watching silly anime cartoons with demons in them with her friends to her watching an actual demon rape and murder one of her best friends.
She was petrified of the creature cruelly tearing her friend apart and desperately wanted to stop it. But she was also able to recognize that she was in no way shape or form a match for a demon and stepping out of the protection circle Erin made for them was like committing suicide. So when Tori foolishly stepped out of the circle Catherine dropped everything and shot out to try and pull her back in.
She only managed to grab a hold of the edge of her hoodie before Tori slid out of it. Time seemed to stop its fast forwarding motion and slowed down again after Tori left the circle. Catherine helplessly watched the demon drop Erin's naked and mangled body and leap for the now exposed Tori.
Catherine could hear frightened screams but didn't know where they was coming from. She didn't affirm that it was her that was screaming her lungs out as the demon attacked Tori's helpless form.
Tori didn't even have time to scream before the demon was using its spindly claws to tear her throat out. Though no screams escaped her a few bloody gurgles sounded from the interstice in her throat. And the monster just went from there, ruthlessly clawing and rendering Tori's body until it finally raped her.
There was an over abundance of blood everywhere. There were splatters on the walls, huge puddles on the floor, and some even managed to get into the walls of the adjoining kitchen.
The creature promptly dropped Tori's broken body when it was done and stood up. Catherine stood stock still as the creature turned its sights on her. She distantly noted that when the demon made any movement its body made odd noises; like it was in rigor mortise but was forced to move. It was a creaky sound, almost like ice cracking.
It just stood there watching her while she watched it in return. Eventually Catherine's eyes started to strain and she had to blink. And after she did the demon was instantly in front of her. It was so abrupt and unexpected that she screamed and fell back on her ass.
She was sprawled in the middle of the salt circle on her ass while an incubus that just ferociously raped and butchered both of her friends was less that four feet away. Needless to say she was trembling with abject consternation. She flinched when the demon brought his lanky hand up and tapped one of his spindly nails against what looked like glass. She hadn't noticed it earlier. It seemed to only shine when it was being touched and disappeared when it wasn't.
Catherine's eyes widened in awe when she saw that the demon couldn't get into the circle. It hissed angrily and tapped its nail harder against the barrier but it didn't budge or shatter; it only crackled with what looked like electricity. Catherine couldn't believe Erin's circle was holding off the demon.
'It's a miracle!' she couldn't help but think with wonder.
Her wonder soon turned to alarm when the demon pressed forward as hard as it could and ignoring the electric stings managed to get the tip of its nail into the barrier. Catherine cried out in fright when it pushed harder and got a few more centimeters of its nail inside.
It was gradually managing to get itself in. And it was going to do to her what it did to Tori and Erin if she didn't do something and fast.
Frantically and with some trepidation she looked around her and saw her fallen items. Her Marc Jacobs satchel and the little bag of crystals, a the switchblade and spell book Erin gave them. 'Just me now.' she thought with despair. She knew there was nothing in her purse that would stop a demon. She figured the pepper spray would just piss it off. The crystals seemed pretty useless. And the knife wouldn't stop him but it might slow him down a tiny bit. But she would be dead long before she could do any amount of real damage to it.
That left the spell book. 'Didn't Erin say something about strengthening this protection circle?' she remembered with hope. The book was laying open next to her. She picked it up to the page it landed on and looked at the circle drawn there. She looked from the drawing of the circle to the one below her and breathed a sigh of relief. They were the same circle. She didn't think she'd be able to find the right spell in time if it had turned out to be on the wrong page.
But what Catherine forgot was that the circle doesn't change very much in spells. Erin specifically told her that it was the words to cast the spell that differed. But Catherine can be forgiven for making such an error. And really, it is very distracting to have an incubus trying to get to her so it can mutilate her. Mistakes are expected during such a hectic time in ones life.
After all, if she didn't mess up this bit her life would go into a completely different and less interesting direction.
Catherine looked up from the book and shrieked when she saw the demon had its whole hand in the circle now. So with vigor Catherine read the Latin words next to the drawing as best she could with tears still swimming in her eyes. After she spoke the last syllable of the last word there was a loud whooshing sound. Like wind over a turbulent sea. The med student watched as the glass barrier shimmered and tightened around the demons hand. She vindictively savored the demons freakish hisses and screams as its hand was sliced off.
The severed extremity landed between her feet with a sick thud. Catherine looked from the hand to the incubus and shuddered in revulsion when it glared at her. It opened its mouth and growled at her. And its mouth was something straight from nightmares. When it was closed it looked like the thing didn't even have a mouth. But when it opened it split its face clean in half, showing rows upon rows of razor sharp needles. All you had to do to envision its mouth was imagine someone combining a sharks and angler fishes mouth's together.
It practically screamed abomination.
Catherine closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. She was finally safe. She reopened her eyes to see the demon on the other side of the barrier blur. It looked like the demon was under water. She didn't know what was going on but the blockade turned more opaque than previously. And then it emulsified into a amalgam of color that darkened until it went black.
Catherine didn't know what was happening. And she was scared the spell was messing up. And if it did then she was metaphorically screwed. She would be literally screwed if that demon got his claws on her. She trembled at the notion of the demon getting her. Especially after she fought so desperately to get away.
Soon the climate around her shifted to a more frigid degree. Still clueless to everything around her Catherine watched the dark enclosure fade from view. The first thing Catherine ascertained from her now unobstructed field of vision was that the demon was gone. She sucked in a lungful of icy air then laughed it out in abated bliss.
When she came down from her relief induced high she became aware of everything else.
Like the fact she was sitting in a dark alley.
In an area she was one hundred percent unfamiliar with to boot.
It was at that point that she began to quake with undisguised alarm. She could feel herself start to slip into a state of hysteria. After everything that happened to her it was a surprise it hadn't happened sooner. The fear, the terror, the horrific sights she was forced to endure. She knew what she witnessed would haunt her forever.
She was about to lose it. She could feel the panic attack coming on. But she hadn't attended so many classes on medicine for nothing. Even in her unstable state she could recognize the symptoms.
-Feelings of having a lack of control? *check
-A racing heart? *check
-Troubled breathing? *check
-Intense chest pains? *check
Yes, Catherine was on the verge of a full out panic attack. But thankfully she knew how to stop one too. So as calmly as possible she sat back against the building next to her. The cold bricks helped her focus on something. Then she started her deep breathing exercises. Taking steady deep breaths through her diaphragm.
Iiiin. And out. Iiiiin. And out. Iiiin. And out.
It took a long time but eventually her heart rate returned back to a normal tempo. Catherine knew that she couldn't stay in this alley forever. She had to man up and find out where she was. People were going to wonder where she disappeared to. Hell, people were going to wonder what happened in her apartment.
Catherine knew there was no way anyone was going to believe her when she told them what really happened there. They were probably going to try and pin Tori and Erin's murders on her. Just the thought of a judge and jury convicting her to spend the rest of her natural life in jail worried Catherine. And that was only if she didn't receive the death sentence.
And if they didn't send her to prison then they'd send her to a mental institution. Because in the long run, anyone who rants and raves about a demon coming into their home and raping and mutilating their friends was obviously insane.
With quivering limbs Catherine gathered the book and bag of crystals and carefully wedged them into her purse. She picked up the switchblade next. She examined its beautiful craftsmanship in the dull moonlight before sliding it closed and slipping it into her pocket.
She mustered the strength to get to her knees before she had to halt. She took measured breaths and was ready to try standing again so she could get out of the alley and flag down a car. She happened to glance down at a discarded newspaper by her but dismissed it. But then the date on the newspaper finally got through her addled mind and registered in her brain. She snatched the dirty paper up and shakily brought it up to her face and re read the disturbing paper. It read:
~THE TIMES-August 12th 1882~
She got as far as the date before she was finally overloaded with too much and couldn't handle any more. She wordlessly collapsed into a heap on the ground.
Just seconds before the darkness managed to consumed her vision she heard a woman's voice calling for help.
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A/N: Oh my gosh! Finally! POSTED~ lol I hope you all like this chapter. And Moka...I tried to do better. Can't say if I succeeded or not. :( I hope I did a teeny bit better though. *sigh* Oh well. ~The Mistress, XOXO
