Warning: This chapter may be duller than pulling hairs out of your ass crack.
Watching: Paranormal State Season 3 Listening to: Nothing in particular Random Thought: I can't wait to see all the costumes for Halloween tonight!
The next morning you both woke up well rested. Well, as well rested as you could be from what went on the night before. You went into the bathroom and took a shower while Blackheart got dressed. Once you were finished showering and had gotten dressed yourself, Blackheart called to you throught the bathroom door.
"Serena! Are you okay?" he asked.
"Perfectly normal. Why?" you asked suspiciously.
"I had to ask. Father stopped by while you were in there. He said somthig about you meating him alone out in the barn with all the horses," he said.
"Okay," you said as you exited the bathroom and headed for the door.
"Be careful! Father could be planning anything!" Blackheart hollered after you.
"I always am careful! I'm always suspicious of strange demons so don't worry about me!" you hollered back.
Before you entered the barn, you heard a panicked whinny. You looked around but couldn't see a horse anywhere. Then you heard it again only this time it sounded like it was coming from inside the barn. You rushed in to see which horse was distressed and saw that it was Blaze. He was in a panicked frenzy and you couldn't see any obvious reason for him to be so scared.
"Blaze! What's wrong?" you asked the frightened horse.
You immediately tried to calm the horse but it proved to be almost fruitless but eventually, Blaze calmed and you could breath easy once again.
"Hello poppet," came a greasy voice from behind you.
You turned and saw a strange man, holding the bridle of Blackheart, your favorite mare. He hopped on her and before he turned her and left he said "I'm taking this horse back. She was mine to start and she's mine to finish."
With that he took off out of the barn. You saw the frightened look in the mare's eyes and you knew that man was up to no good. You prayed for shadows as you jumped on Blaze and rode him bareback after the thief. You knew you had to save her and the other horses that this evil man had in his possession. You followed him to his horse farm as clouds rolled past the sun and saw several starving and skeletal horses, victims of his cruelty.
'Oh my God! What kind of monster does this sort of thing to helpless animals?' you thought as you slowed Blaze down and hopped down.
Instinctively, you knew where to go. You ran into a building that looked like a cross between a squat cylow (sp?) and a barn. From inside came frantice whinnying and you knew you had to hurry. You ran back to Blaze and hopped back on. "Okay boy. Here goes nothing," you said and transformed into the Ghost Rider, outfit and all. Blaze also transformed into a ghost horse and you had to look at him for a minute before you realized you were still sitting on Blaze's back.
"alright. this could take some getting used to," you said before getting Blaze to charge forward iinto the dilapidated building to rescue the frightened animal inside.
There was the same evil man that took Blackheart and, with whip in hand, continuusly lashed her all the while ignoring you.
"You! Guilty!" you cried in anger as you got Blaze to rear up in front of the man, causing him to drop his whip and fall to the ground in fear.
"Your soul is stained by the blood of the innocent!" you said as you hopped down, grabbed him by the shirt and picked him up.
"Look into my eyes! Feel their pain!"
The thief started screaming from all the pain he had caused all the horses on his ranch. Soon, his eyes were ashen and he was dead. You tossed him to the ground and transformed yourself and Blaze back to normal.
"Hey girl. Are you okay?" you asked Blackheart as she came over to you to give her thanks.
She snorted in reply and you smiled at her, relieved that she was no worse for wear, if not a bit skittish around the dead man's body.
"Help me get your friends back home will you? There, they will know no more pain and suffering. I'll feed them all they can eat and give them all the water they can drink and all they could ask for in comfort, peace, and ... everything else, I think," you said to Blackheart.
She simply blinked her eyes and trotted out of the barn whinnying to her companions. You hopped on Blaze and rode to the barn to check for more horses. There were none. Only a small weak liitle pony who looked so weak that he could barely stand.
"Blackheart! Lead them home!" you called out the barn door.
You heard an answering whiny as you rustled up some good hay and oats for the little one.
"Eat up tyko. You need it," you said before you went in search of some water for the poor creature. You did manage to find some and when you got back the little pony was standing up or at least trying to.
"Your a tough little thing, aint ya?" you asked the little pony.
You got a small snort in response, causing you to giggle. Once the pony was finished, you led him out of the stall and towards Blaze. When you mounted him, the little pony came right up beside you.
"Okay, Blaze, let's lead this little feller home," you said as he walked out of the barn.
As you were approaching your ranch, you had a feeling that someone or something was following you and it wasn't the little pony making the strange noise behind you.
"Who's following me?" you called.
No answer.
"Blackheart, is that you?" you called.
Still no answer. Once you got to the ranch, you decided to put the pony with the other rescued horses and went to track down Blackheart. You found him checking out something.
"Blackheart? Are you with me?" you asked.
He visibly jumped and whirled around to face you.
"I am now!" he said irritably.
"Where you following me earlier?" you asked him.
"No, why?" he asked.
"Because someone or something was following me earlier when I was bringing a pony back here," you said.
"Really? It could have been Damien. Next time warn me when you first feel it!" he said.
"Uh, Blackheart, next time that happens you might not be with me," you said.
"Then i will stay with you 24/7," he said, grabbing you by your upper arms.
"Ow! Blackheart you're hurting me!" you said, pulling away.
"I don't care! I'm staying glued to you!" he said.
You kept on trying to pull away but he wouldn't let you go so you finally had to kick him. Blackheart let out a surprised yelp and finally let go of your arm.
"What was that for?" Blackheart demanded.
"You were hurting me! What did you expect me to do? Let you break my arms?" you asked angrily.
You didn't wait for an answer and turned away from him and went for the house, rubbing your upper arms all the way. You locked the door behind you and sat down on the floor and started crying. Why did you even bother to let him in? Why did you even bother to sleep with him the night before? And why the hell were you crying? You didn't love him! Right? This was so confusing. You had a feeling you might have to let him go before everything was said and done. Maybe that was a good thing. A creeking sound brought you crashing back to reality. You looked up and saw Mephistopholes standing in front of you.
"My Ghost Rider? Crying? What is this? he asked.
"Couldn't be helped that time. Had to let it out somehow," you said, whiping away the tears.
"Tears of pain, eh? Who has hurt you enough to make you cry? I don't like people making my Riders cry. It's un-Rider like," he staed.
"Blackheart as usual. I don't know why i let him get to me so much," you said, wiping away more tears.
"What did he do to you?" Mephistopholes asked.
"He grabbed my arms and wouldn't let me go when I said he was hurting me. He just grabbed me harder. I'm brobably getting bruises where he grabbed me and that's saying something as I don't bruise easily," you said as you lifted you sleeves to see if there were bruises on your arms.
Mephistopheles swatted your hand away and grabbed the sleeve you were lifting to speed things up. The bruises were already starting to form. /your skin was turning yellow the the beginnings of what were to be very painful bruises.
"BLACKHEART!"he bellowed. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?"
He unlocked the door just as Blackheart placed his hand on the knob.
"What is the meaning of what?" Blackheart asked. "These bruises on my R'iders arms! How dare you hurt my rider? Again?" Mephistopholes demanded.
"What bruises?" Blackheart asked. "These," you said as you pulled up your sleeve once again to reveal the now purpling bruises on your arms.
"When did I do that?" he asked.
"Just now. Outside. When I told you I felt someone or something following me home," you said.
"you never told me that," he said.
"I did too!" you said heatedly. "And don't you deny it!"
"I am denying it! I haven't got a clue as to what your talking about!" he said, just as heatedly.
"Then who else could it have been?" you asked.
"Damien," Mephistopholes said. "Looks like he can mimic other peoples forms."
"He can do that?" you asked.
"If a demon is strong enough, yes," Mephistopheles replied.
"And that reminds me, what did you mean about wanting me to leave so you could be with someone else?" Blackhert asked.
"I never said that! And since when is I seeing you?" You demanded. "When was that?" asked Mephistopheles. "A few minutes ago," he replied. "I was on my way home a few minutes ago," you said.
"Damien," the three of you said in unison.
It was at that moment, it really hit home for you. If you were going to have any semblance of normalcy in your lie anymore, Damien had to die. Damien's death would set you free.