"What do you mean 'she's not here?' I've been trying to get ahold of her for the past two days!"
"Sir, Doctor Kimishima is extremely busy at the moment, if you would just be patient-"
I sighed in agitation, "Did you not hear me when I said I've been trying to contact her for two days now? It's a desperate matter. Look, just let me into her office. It'll take ten minutes, fifteen at the most. She can't be so damn busy that she can't take a ten minute break." I'll admit, I… wasn't exactly feeling like myself. I sure as hell wasn't acting like myself either. Normally, I wouldn't let myself get so outwardly irritated towards someone; I preferred a sarcastic, passive-aggressive approach. Maybe it was the fact that I've been getting even less sleep than usual, or… I thought back to seeing my eyes in the mirror. A dark shade of red… Or was I just seeing things? I hoped that was the case.
Music to my ears, I heard her voice, "What the hell are you arguing about out here? I could hear you from down the hall." Naomi looked a lot different than the last time I had met her. Her eyes were blue, she had her hair pulled back, and she looked… a lot paler. Like she was sick or something… Come to think of it, Derek did see her regarding her 'condition.' He also said that she had less than a year to live, but that was more than two years ago. Apparently some unknown surgeon saved her life that day. He didn't even need to use the Healing Touch, if he had it.
"Vaughn? Is that you?" she said, starting to recognize me. I haven't changed much, really. Well, up until recently that is. "Before you say anything, I'd like to know why you left 73 voice messages on my cell phone, about half of which sounded like you were drunk when you sent them…"
"Look, I can explain everything in private. I'm having a bit of an issue and I need your expertise, Kimishima."
The minute she closed the door to her office, she looked me up and down and said, "I think I know what your issue is: you've been bitten by a werewolf. That would explain your… appearance."
I rolled my eyes, "Ha-ha, very funny, Kimishima. Now, here's what's been going on…"
I told her everything. The recurring dream, the angel-like figure, the counting down, the pains before I woke up, and… the odd things that had been happening. Saying things that I had never even really thought about before, finding a razor blade in my soap, and my eyes changing colors.
"I thought something seemed off about you, other than the fact that you look like you haven't bathed in a week. Let's see… you said she was counting down to… something… and I don't think either of us know what that thing is… Along with strange speech…?"
"Yeah, it was definitely my voice, but… it wasn't 'me' talking. Like someone else was controlling my voice, or something…" If she didn't think I was completely nuts by now I'd be pretty surprised.
"And you found a razor blade in a bar of soap?" She raised an eyebrow, obviously incredulous. Yep, she thought I had lost it.
I shrugged, "No idea how it got there, unless I was somehow sleepwalking and just… put it there. That's pretty unlikely though, considering I've never sleepwalked in my life."
"Well, you said you felt like you were 'under control' during one of your meditation sessions, correct?" I was about to answer when her phone went off. It didn't ring, just buzzed in her hand. Again, this might've been me seeing things, but I swore I saw some kind of… aura… coming from her phone.
She flipped her phone open (who has a flip-phone nowadays anyway?) and held it up to her ear, closing her eyes.
"...'let me speak to him'….? Strange last words…" Was this her 'speaking to the dead' I've been hearing about? Definitely strange, but then again this was coming from someone who was a (presumably former) Healing Touch user.
"Huh?" she jerked the phone away from her for a moment. "I've never gotten… a response from one of these calls before… and, come to think of it, I only receive these messages when I'm near the voice's corpse…"
I could hear… whoever was on the other end of the line… shouting through the phone, "I know he's in there with you, Nozomi Weaver! Did you not hear me before?! I said, let me speak to him! Don't you fucking dare to ignore me…!"
Dr. Kimishima looked at me, confused and… scared? That was a sight to see… "You're the only person in the room besides me… I think she wants to talk to you, Vaughn. Although… this is very strange… I've never had a spirit respond to me before… and I've never heard one this… angry…"
"The phone! Give him the phone!" the 'spirit' on the other end shouted. Did I recognize that voice….? No… It couldn't be… her…
She hesitantly handed me the phone, which I held up to my ear… "Who is this and why do you want to talk to me?"
There was a low chuckle on the other end of the line, one that made me shudder. "You've forgotten so soon, Markus Vaughn? We've met several times before… Of course, you don't really know anything about me, but I know everything about you…"
It was her after all… Instinctively, I gritted my teeth, "So, you're the one who keeps showing up in my dreams, huh?"
"You're absolutely right, Markus Vaughn… however, I'm in a good mood today, so-"
"So you'll leave me alone tonight so I can get some sleep?"
"DO NOT INTERRUPT ME!" she roared, loud enough to nearly deafen me even through the phone. "Anyway… I'm afraid I can't do that… but I will answer some questions for you…" Finally, I could get some answers on why she was doing this… "But… they have to be my questions. I can tell you my name, my age, how I know you, and why I've chosen you in particular…"
Well, at least her questions wouldn't give me completely useless information… "First off, tell me how you know who I am."
"I have eyes in the past… like little moons… they can see anything… but I must tell them where to look first…" Well, so much for a clear answer. Maybe her other questions would yield something a bit more obvious.
"Alright, now tell me why… me?"
She giggled; creepy. "Your very existence…" she said sweetly, "...it sickens me… disgusts me to my very core…"
"Okay, so why does my being disgust you so much?" I asked, hoping she'd provide some more information.
There was a happy-sounding sigh on the other end. "I thought I said only my questions… If you think about it, you might figure out why I despise you so…" She couldn't mean…. Could she?
"Fine, please tell me you're going to give me a clear answer for your name and how old you are…"
A low chuckle, followed by a brief pause, "I am much, much, much older than you are… Even if I appear to be otherwise… My birth far predates human civilization, perhaps even humanity itself! I've lost track, really…"
"And your name? Please, just give me a straight answer for your name, that's all I ask…" I was getting annoyed very quickly, but it's probably a good idea to bite my tongue for now… I don't want her to scream at me like that again…
"My name..? Fufufufu…." she laughed again. "I suppose I'll give you a straight answer… It's Sariel. Just Sariel…" She went silent after that.
"That was pretty fucking weird…." I muttered to myself, starting to put the phone down.
"I'm not done talking to you, Markus Vaughn. If you hang up now there will be absolute hell to pay…" What did she want from me now? I listened to… whatever she had to say to me, praying that this would be the last I heard from her until much, much later.
"You made a mistake telling Nozomi Weaver-"
"Her name's Naomi. Naomi Kimishima. I don't know where the hell you got Nozomi Weaver from-" Idiot that I was, I interrupted her again. Only this time, thankfully, she didn't yell.
"You two have much more in common than you think, Markus Vaughn," she giggled in that sick, honeyed voice of hers. "Anyway… you made a mistake… a big one… coming to her like that… I don't want it to happen again, and I don't think you do either… I'll be much more… aggressive next time you do something like this…"
"Is that it?" I asked, my voice starting to tremble.
There were a few moments of silence on the other end, and then… a low chuckle, a giggle, a laugh, a high-pitched cackle. "Consider this a warning, Markus Vaughn…" she said darkly.
"Seven..."
Pain. Searing, sharp pain. My vision went completely white, my ears were deaf to everything but a faint ringing sound, a complete disconnect from my body, and then...