The madman's frantic pacing halted as a peculiar sensation rose within him. Jerome's vision blurred, and initially he chalked this up to him having the worst panic attack he'd had in years. In his mind however, he could see a dark flock of what looked to be soft ashes. The ashes whirled, rushing past his face in an overwhelming gust, forming into what he would have described to be a demon's face. It was dark and shifted around softly, it's eyes a piercing red. The vision scared Jerome almost half to death, and that was saying something. Vaguely he wondered what was happening, though had assumed this to be some abrupt manifestation of his sins. The being spoke then, the words forming within Jerome's mind in a rolling, heavy and slow tone that vibrated within his chest. 'The one you seek has summoned me... With your concurrence, I will overtake your body and mind, and guide you to her...'
Jerome blinked, eyes locked onto the spirit. Amelia had summoned this creature? He did recall her mentions of her work going beyond the physical world, and also knew Amelia had delved into her dark side. What he wasn't aware of, was that it went this far. Hazel eyes gleamed in intrigue, a crooked smirk forming on his lips, and then he opened his arms. "Be my guest," Jerome affirmed. The sensation from earlier washed over him, stronger now, like a dark tide as the spirit absorbed itself into him. The force of it had knocked him over onto his back.
From where Holly and Laura were, they moved when Jerome had toppled over and went into a brief seizure. "We can't afford to be stressing this much! Oh, crap," Laura's voice rang in incredulity as she motioned, but was unsure how to help him. Jerome rose to his feet soon enough however, looking to the sisters as his eyes glowed for a moment in a red hue. "Are you okay?" Laura questioned, speaking slowly and raising an eyebrow.
A devilish smirk grew upon Jerome's lips. "Never better," he assured. "C'mon, I know where Amelia is," he was moving then to the door, body moving on its own as the spirit guided him. Laura and Holly hesitated, though trailed behind him, out of the apartment door and down the steps of the complex.
Laura leaned to Holly as they made their way outside now, the sky above bright grey and entirely masked in thin clouds. "Do you think he's...?"
"No doubt about it," Holly sent on quietly to her sister, knowing for sure that Jerome was possessed currently. "Amelia always did vow to get good enough to summon spirits. If he really knows where she is so suddenly, this must be a product of that..."
"Holy shit," Laura breathed out in disbelief, nearly forgetting how powerful Amelia was. Her brown eyes gazed off into the distance, before she fetched her keys and unlocked her black car.
-Meanwhile-
Once the spirit had drifted from her mind, Amelia smirked from behind her black muzzle. She'd indeed recalled the time that spirit paid her a visit back at Arkham, and it seemed her little loophole had worked. It was only a matter of time now before she would finally get out of this mess. Only a few more moments passed before Eric was trudging back down the basement steps, this time with a slender wooden box in his hands, closed with a metal clasp. Amelia assumed that the box held whatever devices he planned on torturing her with.
Eric placed the box on a small metal work table near Amelia, flipping it open to reveal an array of hand held weapons. Scanning over them, he chose one resembling a Japanese sai. Amelia's green eyes burned into him, glaring bitterly.
"Now, where were we..." Eric sent on as he inched closer, his rubber boots squeaking slightly with each step, to Amelia's annoyance. "I will be making this as slow as possible. You deserve to suffer for the things that you do..." his arm moved then, and he'd plunged the sai into her leg. Amelia's eyes snapped shut as pain surged through her thigh, though she attempted to feel the pain rather than resist it. She was trying to trick her mind into accepting the sensations. The stabbing and burning sensation radiated from the spot he'd targeted. Rather than scream, Amelia smiled and a loud laugh moved past her smeared red lips. Eric removed the sai, then sending it into her stomach.
Pain tore itself into her mind, though Amelia erupted into more laughter, the sound more maniacal than the last. Amelia refused to allow him to see her in agony. She could feel Eric scowl in vexation from behind his mask. He removed the blood stained sai, placing it back in it's box, though his pale eyes didn't leave the witch. "That partner of yours has twisted you up a good deal. That won't do. You need to be eliminated," Eric concluded as his eyes drove into hers. He was waspish, and that couldn't help but amuse Amelia. "It looks like I'll need to be using the other method I had in store. I was going to save the best for last..." Eric almost purred, seeming pleased to be able to go through with his next plan. Something in his demeanor shifted however, and it sent a dark cloud over Amelia. Her expression dropped as Eric edged closely; far too close now. "I know the perfect way to tear your mind apart and make your life a living hell as you have made mine," Eric growled and then was reaching to practically rip her trousers off.
"No!" Amelia shrieked, panic coursing through her veins like icy splinters. She thrashed against her bindings, the metal cusps digging into the wounds she'd already formed previously, deepening them. "Stop!" Amelia screamed at the top of her lungs, urging Jerome to hurry in her mind. Tears jumped from eyes as she thrashed violently. Even if it meant leaving without her hands and feet, she needed to get out of there. She could trick herself all she wanted into enduring any torture. But surely she could not endure that...
Outside, Laura's black car skidded up into the drive way of an abandoned home essentially in the middle of nowhere. Each of the exited, trudging through the grass, a gun in each of their hands. 'The one holding her captive is of the same blood as her previous lover,' the spirit sent on, before it exited Jerome in a soft rush. At this point, he didn't even need such a spirit to drive his fury. Sending his foot sailing into the front door of the home, Jerome crashed through it in one blow. He was seething. Inside they were greeted with two masked men, armed and ready for a fight. Laura and Holly took cover with some furniture as they targeted one of the men near the kitchen while Jerome took the one that stood closer to the door leading into the cellar. The red headed lunatic moved with fluidity, having literally dodged a bullet. He grasped the masked man's arm, twisting and fracturing it, and then his hand shot out to grab his neck so fast and hard that it'd effectively crushed part of the bones there. "Your little friend is in for a treat," Jerome hissed, into the man's ear, before hauling him away and blasting him in the head with his shot gun. Holly and Laura were close behind as he ventured into the basement now, having taken care of their other target.
The sight Jerome had been greeted with had him literally seeing red. Eric had yanked his trouser's around his ankles and was inches from scarring Amelia all over again. Hazel eyes were wild with fury as he marched straight for his target, hankering to rip him to shreds. Eric had been taken off guard and during his fumbling to get his pants back around his waist, Jerome's hand was reaching for his face as he ripped that pathetic mask off.
"You my friend have made a vital mistake," Jerome growled, his tone deep, dark and dripping with venom. All that usual jestfulness had entirely fallen away now, as Jerome's demeanor was replaced by an atrocious monster, hungry to kill. Holly and Laura stood near, two guns pointed at Eric and ready to fire if need be. "Get a good look, girls," Jerome snarled to the sisters behind him, eyes not once leaving Eric's face. "Tell me... there is a spell directed at families... After I'm through with you, I don't want to see nor hear from anyone who shares your blood ever again," Jerome shifted, driving his dagger into Eric's stomach, ripping a jagged blood red crescent into his stomach in a long stroke. Eric lurched as blood spilled from his abdomen, covering the whole of Jerome's forearm. A sinister grin was twitching it's way onto Jerome's lips, his eyes wild and overflowing with red-hot rage. Eric shifted, kicking Jerome as soon as he saw an opportunity to.
Amelia meanwhile watched, Holly moved near to assist her in getting her trousers back on, though the blonde's eyes didn't leave Eric. He was lunging towards a wooden box on a table near her, to which Holly picked it up and then kicked it, sending it skidding across the floor and to Jerome. Before Eric could get to Holly, Jerome flung a few weapons in quick succession. One flew through Eric's shoulder, pinning him against the cellar wall. Another han pinned a hand, and the other plunged right between his ribs. Jerome neared Eric, prowling swiftly as Holly shifted to stand with Laura, nodding to her. The spirit had planted small seeds of knowledge into their minds, filling them in on who Eric was.
"What's the rush?" Jerome asked to Eric, who wailed as Jerome gave the blade between his ribs a firm and ruthless twist. From behind him, ominous chanting drifted through the space.
"Shut up, freak..." Eric managed, blood pooling out of his mouth as he glared at Jerome. "You'll all pay... Ack!" Jerome shut him up by ripping the knife in his torso out. The chanting drew on.
'Those who share his blood will meet a horrid fate,
Forever shall they shift through Hell's gate...'
Jerome moved again, hand rising high above his head as he gouged each of Eric's eyes mercilessly out of his head. Amelia watched from her place bound as this all played out, eyes wide and streaked with thick black eyeliner from her tears. She was in awe, and hadn't even expected for her sisters to have shown up... the rage that Jerome displayed as so potent, unlike anything she'd ever seen. And it was all to save her...?
Eric's screams blared in Jerome's ears, and the sound made the ginger grin in lunacy. "The sound of your screams is like music to my ears... Oh, don't look so glum, pal," Jerome was moving again, placing the blade in his grasp at the corner of Eric's mouth to carve a slow, long smile into his face. Eric writhed, though everything around him was slipping away now... "We're all so thrilled to see you torn to pieces," Jerome hissed each word out, baring his teeth as a feral cackle fled from his lips.
Amelia watched, all the way until the end as Eric's body slumped to the ground in a pool of blood. Holly and Laura moved then to unbind her. Everything was a blur, Amelia's mind having been assaulted with so much fear. She hated to be seen in such a weak state, though the only people that could get away with witnessing her like that would have been the three in the room with her. All she could do was bawl her eyes out now as her sisters hugged her tightly.
-Two days later-
Laura and Holly were exiting the hospital, nodding to Jerome who entered next. He wore a guise, since it would have been difficult for him to get inside otherwise. He seemed oddly solemn, and held a bundle of black roses in his hands. Sitting near Amelia, who rested, he stared at the flowers in his hands for a long moment. It was difficult for him to do something so sentiment, but something within him was shifting, albeit slightly. When it came to her, least. Having seen Amelia so close to being taken advantage of sent him over the edge, broke him in a way he had never been broken. In other ways, he was shattered, driven to lunacy. Those events however brought out a whole new type of fire, and proved to him he could genuinely be a monster. Even more of a monster than he'd already initially thought. It went to show... he truly did have feelings for the dark haired beauty sleeping near him in the pale hospital bed. It was peculiar, and confusing, but he was learning to accept it.
Amelia's eyes were heavy as they opened. She would have been the type to reject going to a hospital, but her mind had been so effected and her body needed to heal. Her sisters had driven her there a couple of days ago, and Amelia was the most numb they had seen her in a long while. Her sisters promised not to disappear again, after that.
"A trooper, as always," Jerome sent on, placing the roses on the window sill near Amelia, where she could see them. Amelia didn't say anything at first, merely stared at the beautiful bouquet. Her mind however trailed to the way Jerome looked when he murdered Eric. That fire in his eyes, all due to someone hurting her. It made her heart swell... and even now, after everything, she wanted to push him away. To tell him to take those flowers and get the hell out. But, she couldn't bring herself to do that. Not now.
A hot tear rolled down Amelia's pale cheek, eyes still on the black roses, the very ones she preferred. "...Thanks," she said, in a soft whisper.