Every house on the quiet suburban street lay dark and quiet, deep in slumber only disturbed by the roar of an engine. The red car sped down the street, it's driver looking nervously into the rearview mirror, expecting someone, or rather, something to be in the backseat, watching him. The car suddenly pulled into one of the many snow-covered driveways. Craig quickly opened the door and called for his dog, nearly sprinting to the front door. He knocked urgently and didn't stop until the hall-light turned on and the door opened.

"Craig?" Sami's eyes widened at the sight of him standing on her doorstep in nothing but pyjamas and winter boots, his dog at his side. "What happened? What are you doing here?"

"P-Please...Can I come in?" Craig stammered.

"Yeah...Of course. Come in." She stepped back, letting him inside. She closed the door behind him as he slowly kicked off his boots. "Do you want anything? I got hot chocolate, tea... I got beer too if you'd prefer that?"

"Just water…" Craig whispered. He slowly made his way to the couch, collapsing onto the soft cushions. There was a pack of tarot cards on the coffee table.

"O-Okay...I'll be right back."

"Okay…" Craig breathed, his eyes on his dog who was excitedly running around the room. He closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the couch. With every breath, he was reminded of the bruises on his chest in the shape of the ends of table legs. Every ache sent a jolt of fear through him.

"Here." He looked up to see Sami standing in front of him, a cup of water in her hand. He took it with a shaking hand, the water rippling.

"Craig...What happened?"

"Y-You won't believe me."

"Just tell me, Craig."

"I don't know how…"

"Okay...How about start with why you're here?" She gave him a reassuring smile.

"Something is in your house?"

"It's bad...Really bad. I'm pretty skeptical about these stories I study but now...I'm not sure if they are stories anymore." Craig stammered. "I thought I was going to die. All I could do was run...I had to run."

"Run…"

"There is something that's pure evil in my house. I felt it. I saw it...It came from that book."

"You mean Venefica?"

"Yes."

"What did it to do you?" She breathed. Craig couldn't find the words to explain how it had trapped him, so he raised his shirt to show her the dark bruises. "Oh my god."

"I don't know what to do." Craig dropped the hem of his shirt and brought his hands to his face, feeling tears well up in his eyes.

"You don't have to do anything right now. Just try to get some rest, okay? We'll figure it out in the morning. You're exhausted, Craig. Don't push yourself."

"It drove me out of my home!"

"You're home isn't gone." Her voice was firm. Craig stared at her, surprised. "It will be okay. I'm not going to leave you."

Craig dreamed he was home. He walked slowly down the front hallway, coming to a stop at the stairs.

Standing at the bottom of his staircase, he looked up at the young man that stood at the top, his dark gaze locked onto Craig. The young man wore a black velvet jacket over his white linen shirt and black trousers, his boots looking muddy. The young man began to cough, his black hair falling over his eyes. He took a step down the stairs. Gold feathers grew from his collar. He spat blood onto the wood. A black cape shrouded him, the feathers wrapping their way around his neck like a noose.

"Magistrate..." The young man choked out.

"Magistrate..." Craig repeated. The young man reached the bottom of the stairs, reaching out for Craig. His hand grasped his. It felt deathly cold.

"Sentenced them to hang..." Suddenly Craig was falling. He landed on snow.

His hand was bleeding.

Someone had cut it.

Craig's eyes flickered open. He stared up at the ceiling of Sami's bedroom, trying to remember his dream before it disappeared from him completely. As he sat up the door opened, startling him. Sami gave him a smile, setting a cup of coffee for him down on the bedside table. The room seemed to have a soft glow, the thin white curtains hanging in front of the windows shining from the sunlight that made the snow outside sparkle. On the dresser, a stick of incense in it's stand burned, giving the room a sage like smell. Beside it were a handful of rose quartz and a sphere of black obsidian on a delicate stand.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better."

"That's good." She sat down beside him on the warm blankets. Despite her smile, he could see the concern in her eyes. They could hear a dog barking outside and children playing in the snow, their laughs and shrieks echoing up and down the street.

"You want to know what happened don't you?"

"Would you be mad if I said yes?"

"No...It's okay." Craig reached for her hand. "I don't want to feel alone." He took a deep breath, his eyes on the soft, heavy. white blanket. "Ever since my professor gave me that book, something has been following me. I felt it the first night I had it in the school and I felt it at home. I keep hearing someone walking around in my house and I've been having these dreams...Last night, before it happened...I had a dream about being in a church and there was someone trapped under the floorboards. They kept screaming...And then I woke up on the floor in my hallway…" He trailed off, his voice trembling with fear. The memory of it caused a surge of fear to shoot through his chest. Sami's hand tightened on his. "Something had dragged me out of my bed, left me on the floor...and took my bedside table and put it on my chest. It felt like something was pressing down on it like it wanted the dull wood to pierce my chest...And there was this black mass...It came out of my office towards me and that was when the table just flew off and I was able to escape." As he finished his story, silence once more descended over the room. A child's playful scream from outside made Craig jump.

"You said the table flew off you?"

"I don't know, it all happened so fast."

"Maybe not all of it is evil. Maybe someone is looking out for you. Maybe it's Tyler." She smiled, trying to make light of the situation. Craig shook his head, a laugh escaping his lips.

"It's probably my great-grandmother mad that something is disturbing her."

"Maybe!" She laughed. Craig found himself smiling, his fear elevated for just a moment. "We should find out what exactly it is. You shouldn't run from it."

"You've been watching too many ghost shows. I'm getting rid of the book."

"You can't get rid of it! There has to be an explanation. Maybe it's in Venefica!"

"Sami, I don't want to deal with this anymore. I don't want to feel unsafe in my own home! I'm getting rid of it."

"How?"

"I don't know, I'll send it back to the museum. If that doesn't work...I'll burn it."

"I don't think you should do that."

"Why?"

"Let's just suppose that something is attached to the book...It's already angry. What would it do if you tried to destroy the book?" She seemed oddly serious. Craig's brow furrowed.

"I didn't think that you would be so into this…" He muttered.

"We should go back to your place...We should try to get answers. Even if that just means researching the book and Tyler more. Do you know what happened to Tyler? Did he find the witch?"

"Well...Not exactly. At least that's what I've gotten from what I've read so far. A bunch of pages are missing too...Torn out I think."

"Maybe we have to help him?"

"I don't think so…"

"Come on, Craig! You know it's real and happening!" She grasped his hand tightly with both hands, looking at him with big, determined eyes. "I'm not scared."

"I am."

Looming from the white, undisturbed snow was the tall farmhouse. The red car slowly made its way up the driveway. Finally convinced by the idea of getting some belongings and a winter jacket, Craig slowly parked the car.

"Do you want to wait here?" Craig sighed, turning to look at Sami who shook her head. "Okay." He took the keys out of the ignition and pushed open his door. They made their way through the snow up to the porch. Craig pushed open the door only to be greeted with a gust of cold air. The two shivered.

"You should get the book."

"I'm not getting the book."

"Why?"

"I don't want what's attached to it to follow us," Craig said sharply as he made his way down the hall. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, almost expecting to see the young man with black hair and dark eyes standing at the top. There was nothing but the bedside table still laying on its side where it had landed. The office door was closed.

"Hey, Craig?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you leave the back door open?"

"No. Why?" He moved away from the stairs and down the hall to the back living room where Sami stood by the open back door. There were wet boot prints trailing in from the porch. The snow outside was undisturbed. His hands curled into fists. He stormed towards the door, slamming it shut. "I'm going to burn it! Fuck whatever is attached to it! This is my house!" Craig yelled. "I will not be driven from my own home! Fuck it!"

"Craig!"

"I'm not doing this! I'm not researching it! I'm not reading it! I'm not going to the town! I'm burning the fucking book!"

"You can't!"

"I am! I'm sick of this! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't!"

"It means something! Something happened to Tyler!"

"That was hundreds of years ago!"

"So?"

"Things have changed! Tyler is long dead, end of story! I'm burning it!"

Something crashed to the floor upstairs.

They both froze, slowly looking up at the ceiling.

"What was that?"

"I don't know…"

The stairs creaked.

Heavy footsteps thudded on the floor above them.

"Someone is up there."

"We're in the middle of nowhere here...Who could be up there?"

Something hit the wall upstairs. Craig took a deep breath. He started towards the stairs. In the hallway, he found himself shivering. He wrapped his fingers around the bannister. He told himself that he was just going to get the book so he could get rid of it.

He stopped in the middle of the staircase.

He could hear voices.

They were yelling.

He told himself he had to calm them down. He hurried up the rest of the staircase. The wood floor thudded under his boots. He pushed open the wooden door. He stopped.

Wide eyes stared back at him. The dark room was illuminated with lanterns and candles. It was bright enough for the light to glimmer off the gold thread hemmed onto the black velvet coat worn by the man who stood in front of him, his bright eyes full of rage. Behind him stood a man who wore a hat with a blue feather tucked into its ribbon and behind him were the townspeople who watched with wide, fearful eyes. His hands curled into a fist. "How dare you yell at me?" He spat.

"What? I didn't say anything!" Craig turned. He stood in the middle of his office. Sami stood in the doorway, a concerned look on her face. "You look pale...Are you okay?" He took a shaking step towards her. He could see feet hanging from the ceiling behind her. His gaze lifted. A man hung from the bloody noose, his hat on the floor under his feet. "Craig?" He took one more step only to collapse to the floor.

A blue feather twitched in the cold air.