Chapter 12 – Something Evil This Way Comes
'What are we even doing. Scrying for random evil tells us nothing.' I said, leaning over the small coffee table in the living room and grasping the crystal pendant in my hand. I pulled my hair back from my face, wincing at the tiny cut that was on my left cheek. The living room was a mess, green demon blood plastered all over the walls, from the last demon we summoned here to question. None of them would talk, tell us were this charge was and it always ended up with Hanna making me vanquish them. Which wasn't exactly a sanitary job.
'It tells us where the demons are. And so far I'd say we're doing pretty good since we've vanquished three already.' she shrugged, turning and grabbing a gold ring from the puddle of goo, previously known as demon number 1, that was splattered all over Sookie's antic carpet. She was going to flip. Three days alone in her house and it looked like something out of 'Aliens', not good; not good at all.
'No thanks to you.' I said, sending her a glare over my shoulder, and holding the pendant over the map. It was a map of the entire U.S and I was kind of worried that I had to go out of state to find this charge. That was the last thing I wanted to do. I wanted to cuddle up in my bed and pretend that this had all been a bad dream. That I wasn't holding Eric's faith in my hands, that I wasn't about to go out on a hunt for some random wizard because he was too afraid to realize his damn powers. But that wasn't what was bugging me, what I couldn't stop thinking about. It was Eric. It was Eric and the fact that we almost kissed. That I could taste him on my lips, that it still felt like my heart was going a million miles an hour and that all I wanted to do was grab Hanna and make her take me back so I could finish what we had started.
'Killing demons isn't my job, it will overthrow the spiritual balance.' She said, twirling the ring around her finger and looking for any other valuables the demons might had had on them. I doubt she would find any. The stuff was literally everywhere. The walls, couch, carpet, floor; One hell of a cleaning job.
Well, 'I'm not supposed to be on a demon killing -spree. I'm supposed to help this charge so that I can get Eric out of Spirit and back to normal.' I said, dropping my arm to the table and looking up at my 'guardian angel'.
'So what are you supposed to do? Sit around and wait for them to pick you off?'
'No, but so far we've been hunting around for every Tom, Dick and Beelzebub in town.' I said, standing up and shifting the weight on my legs to get the feeling back into them. 'I thought I was supposed to train this powerful charge, what's going on?'
'Well... ' Hanna said hesitantly, looking everywhere but at me. She moved away from me, turning her back and suddenly finding the lit up fireplace very interesting.
'Hanna.' I said, cautiously stepping forward. I was beginning to feel wary of her behavior. Hanna never acted like this, ever. Something was definitely going on. A thought crossed my mind and I felt my stomach drop. It felt like a hand had grabbed my heart and squeezed. Did they lie to me about Eric? Were they going to kill him anyways? Would they force me to work for them? Was this all a trap?
What scared me the most though was the thought of Eric being killed... finally, that is. I was doing everything in my power to help them and they were going back on their promise. I felt the anger swell and little bubbles dancing underneath my skin,trying to break free. 'I swear to God, if anything happens to Eric-'
'Relax, it's not that.' She said, brushing me of and turning to walk to the kitchen. I followed,
'What is it then?'
'Maybe we didn't tell you the entire truth...' she said, opening my refrigerator and pulling out my food. Normally I wouldn't mind but I just couldn't stand her. Besides she was an angel, they don't eat.
'Like?' I said questioningly, crossing my arms and leaning up against the counter.
'He's not exactly a witch...' She pulled out a slice of salami along with cheese, lettuce, tomato and everything else she could get her hands on.
'What do you mean: 'He's not exactly a witch'?' I pushed off the counter and stalked towards her. She was busy making her sandwich. And kept busy while I stood and glared at her. She finally let up, exhaled deeply and turned towards me.
'He's a demon.'
'What?' I felt my heart sink. A demon? A demon! Were they crazy? I mean I had been on crazy missions before but this... this was on a whole new level! It was a suicide mission! We had barely made it through killing those three demons and they weren't even upper level demons. And now they wanted me to find a demon who wasn't even in control of his own powers. I'd be dead within five seconds of meeting him.
'Well not exactly a full demon... he's different.' She kept her eyes locked on the sandwich in front of her. I wanted to shake her, punch her, anything! They had tricked me. They knew how badly I wanted for Eric to live and they had totally taken advantage of me.
'Different how? A demon's a demon no matter how you spin it!'
How did this even happen. One moment I'm running away from an abusing boyfriend and the next I'm to train a demon in order to save a vampire. I felt lightheaded. I needed to sit down. I needed to sleep. I needed a drink.
'He is needed. And you will fulfill your assignment.' she said, finally looking at me and straightening her back.
'So what? We're going to just find him and vanquish him.'
'Yes, except for the vanquishing part.' She said, grabbing her plate with the sandwich and walking back into the living room. I followed her. My jaw dropped. The living room was spotless. No demon blood, no broken furniture, no nothing. It looked as if we hadn't just vanquished three demons in there. I guess that was the benefit of being an angel: Instant cleaning. She made herself comfortable in the sofa, kicking her shoes off and turning on the TV. I stood in the doorway with my furrowed brows and crossed arms. How was she so calm? Did she know something I didn't? Because last time I checked, demons were vicious, evil creatures that killed for sport. But then again so did vampires. They were, after all, some kind of demon as well. They just looked more appealing than scaly skin, horns, claws and whatever else demons sported. Vampires used to be like us. They used to be human and I guess most people found that thought comforting. But right now I just couldn't shake that feeling you have when you just know somethings going to go wrong.
'No.' I said firmly.
'Is that the only word you know?' Sighing, she turned towards me. 'Seriously, look. Try this:' she put the plate on the coffee table and scooted closer to where I was standing, pulling her legs underneath her 'Yeeeeeees.' She said it slowly, nodding her head along.
'I'm not a retard, you moron.' I hissed, pushing off the door frame and standing in front of her. 'I just don't want to die because of some teenage-demon.'
'He's not a teenage-demon.' she snapped. I was surprised of her sudden outburst and we both just stood there staring. Why was she acting like this? Hanna never got upset and here she was snapping at me because of some demon. If I didn't know any better - which I do- I'd think Hanna's got a crush on someone. I felt my lips quirk up into a smirk and was about to tease her about it but was interrupted by the doorbell ringing. We both looked toward the door, it was like 2 in the morning. No one worthwhile would visit that late. Especially not in Bon Temps. Hanna settled back into the couch and grabbed her plate back, pretending like her little outburst didn't happen. I rolled my eyes at her as I went to open the door.' And you wont die.' I heard her mumble.
How was I going to survive this? A ''newborn'' demon, in reality they aren't made like vampires are, is incredibly dangerous. Their true self – demonness?- is dormant until they are old enough to control it. In most cases that's in their teens, that's when the transformation happens. It's like going from being a human to a lion overnight. Their bodies change, their brain patterns - they did a study in Spirit – it's scary how they don't have thoughts but more like urges. They do whatever the urge requires, killing, feeding... hmmph - I guess they are more like vampires than I thought.
I was so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I had to calm myself before opening the door. I grabbed the door handle and pulled it open slightly so I could look through the screen door. No one was there and I pulled the door open completely.
'Hello?' Okay, this is when the girl does something stupid in the horror movie, like going outside, and gets killed. I closed the door quickly and turned to hurry back in to where Hanna was sitting in the living room. Something didn't feel right.
'Look, I don't know what's going on but I don't want to-.' I walked into the living room, but she wasn't there. Her food was still on the table and her shoes on the floor. The TV was set on a news channel. The news anchor was discussing with some lady, a vampire, about vampire rights. I didn't hear Hanna go anywhere, unless she had projected back to Spirit but I didn't see any bright light.'Hanna?'
I froze to the spot as a breeze rolled in from the open window. I could have sworn I closed it. The lights suddenly went out and I felt my heart beating more rapidly. I inched deeper into the living room, the fireplace slightly lighting up the room.
'You've been such a bad girl, Annabelle.' My heart stopped as I heard that icy voice from behind me. I glanced up at the antique clock on the far end of the room only to see his reflection in the glass frame. He was smirking, clad in uncharacteristic black clothes, his dark brown hair ruffled and his black eyes burning holes in the back of my head.
Without waiting another second I turned and ran down the hallway. I knew I wanted to make it into Sookie's room because she had a window. The backdoor was in the kitchen and I would have had to walk past him to get in there. I was halfway there when I stumbled over something and fell. Pushing myself up, I could make out a red mane in the dark. Hanna, I thought. Any other thoughts I may have had were drowned out by the pain I felt when he grabbed my hair and pulled me back. I fell backwards, straining my neck as I did so. I let out a scream as I fell to the ground at his feet. I kicked at him, and I saw the amusement from before turn into full fledged anger. He stepped down hard on my stomach, swearing and spitting at my cramping form. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a hairspray can that had rolled under a dresser in the hallway. God bless Sookie and her hair routines. I grabbed it, praying to God that it wasn't empty. Inhaling deeply I aimed at his eyes, clenching the can in my hands I sprayed when he bend down to grab me by the hair again.
He screamed, falling backwards, grabbing his head. He started cursing even worse, while I tried to get up. The pain was so severe. It hurt to move, but I had to. He grabbed the vase that was on the hallway table and out of anger smashed it on the floor He grabbed me by the hair and pulled me back. I landed on the shards of glass and he started to kick me in my stomach. Running the shards of glass deeper into my back. I was screaming as he pulled me into Sookie's room, pushing me onto the bed.
"Is this my blood?" He growled dangerously low, waving his bloodied hand in my face. He stood over me, swaying slightly in the dimly lit room. "You playing games with me?" I shook my head slightly, looking up at him from my position on the bed
"No one is playing games, just, please Justin..." I pleaded, I knew I had to comply. Hanna was out cold and I knew there weren't any other houses for miles, so any chance of people hearing us were gone. I was on my own. I was looking at a familiar body, but right into the eyes of a stranger. In a flash his hand swung around and gripped my neck. There was no time to think, this monster looming over me was going to kill me. I was screaming in my mind but nothing was moving past my lips. I kicked my leg out as hard as I could, and watched as he stumbled back against the dresser, knocking over the frame that adorned Sookie and Gran's smiling faces. The pain in my back subsided for the moment, adrenaline running through every nerve in my body.
My body became a barrage of kicking, scratching, punching, slapping limbs as he came back towards me with more hostility then before.
"Don't touch me, don't fucking touch me! Leave me alone!' I was screaming now, in between thrashing my body around on the bed. He grabbed hold again and I leveled my foot up to his chin delivering one swift kick that knocked his head back. He didn't let go. I pulled back my leg and again kicked out, harder this time connecting with his jaw line. Still trapped in his hands, I kicked one more time.
BOOM
I scrambled back on the bed, but not soon enough.
"You're gonna kick me in my fucking face?" The first hit rocked me, and as his fist connected with my forehead my body flew from the bed and onto the floor. I landed on my hands and knees but before I could tell my mind to get the hell out of there I felt another blow rock the side of my body. I gasped. For a moment I was stunned, long enough for him to deliver another solid, hard punch to my other side. My ribs screamed and I choked out "Stop..." as I began to crawl towards the bedroom door. I lost count of how many times he was hitting me. Each punch threw me down on the floor and each time I scurried back up like a helpless little rat trying to run. It's funny how things really aren't like the movies at all, punches sound more like 'whoosh' when they connect. It felt like a freight train was running through my brain, I couldn't keep track of all the thoughts running through my head. Even though it was a few minutes, it felt like hours. Each second dragging by and each hit seeming to get worse. The pain in my ribs and back was so painful I couldn't catch my breath.
Tightly curling myself up and holding my head was the only thing I could think of to do, now realizing I wasn't going to get out of the door. I arched my back a little and cried while still gasping for air. I'm sure the sounds I was making didn't seem human at this point. He focused his punches on my back now. I tried to crawl past his legs and somehow made it to the middle of the living room.
He was finally doing it. All those years where he had threatened to do it and now he finally was. He was going to kill me. I felt like crying, throwing up or passing out. It felt so surreal. It was only a couple a weeks ago that I had left him and it already felt like a whole other life time ago. I mean I always had thoughts of him in the back of my mind but I didn't really worry as much lately. Panic flooded me. I kicked at him relentlessly as he straddled my stomach, his hands around my throat. I thrashed underneath him, clawing at his face. He was screaming at me, calling me a 'fangbanger', a whore, unholy. It felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest. He dug his nails into the fang marks and a shriek left my body before feeling my conscious slipping away.
Silence suddenly filled the dark room as blood spilled out on me, covering me completely. Justin's headless body falling limply on top of my blood covered one. I then saw his face, leaning down to mine and stroking my cheek softly.
'Eric?' I whispered once the panic had subsided and I was able to catch my breath.
'Guess again.' I heard Hanna say. She grabbed me by my arm and pulled me up onto the couch. 'Don't move.' It felt like she wasn't there next to me, like she was talking to me on the other side of a tunnel. I couldn't have moved even if I wanted to. I couldn't see through my eyes and I couldn't feel my entire lower body. I felt blood gliding down my face and chest. My own mixing with Justin's. I heard Hanna swear somewhere in the distance, and I could faintly see a white light through my eyelids. Warmth enveloped my body and everything just starting feeling good. Like I was on an extreme morphine-high. I felt like jumping and running and dancing. Except I couldn't move.
'All better,' Hanna cheered a moment later as I slowly opened my eyes. I sat up, checking my body for any injuries but there were none. Hanna had healed me. I still felt faint, but nowhere near what I felt 30 seconds ago. I looked over at Hanna, she was in a much worse state than I was in. Matted blood covered her hair, hair that looked orange with the deep red blood on it. Her leather suit was covered in blood also, small cuts covering her chest.
'Hanna...' I said softly, but she stood up swiftly before I could say anything else.
'Bastard ruined my suit.'' She said, nudging the body with her boot-covered leg. 'Let's get this thing outta here.'
'Stop being such a coward.' Hanna said, as she kicked the body down in the grave. I felt like throwing up, but opted to grab the shovel and start throwing dirt on Justin's body.
'I'm not a coward. It's called self-preservation.' I said, tossing her the other shovel. I felt nauseous. My stomach was churning, and I had to keep my eyes away from the grave as I covered it back up. 'And I'd think you'd know everything about that.'
'You're not going to die, moron.' She said, leaning against the tombstone. We had dug up a freshly used grave to dump the body in. Wouldn't cause suspicion, she said. 'The Elders wouldn't send you if they thought you were.'
'I almost got killed by my ex tonight-' I pointed out. '- I think a demon would be more than able to finish the job.'
'That's because someone didn't use her powers.' She sighed, in a sing song-voice, expecting her nails while I filled the grave.
'I could have killed him.'
'And he would have killed you-' she said, pushing of the tombstone and glaring at me'- it's time to get your head out of your ass, princess, no one is going to save you-'
'I didn't expect anyone to save-'
'Oh, so that's why you fought as best as you could, huh?' She said, riling her self up.'That's why you weren't almost beaten to death by a mere human!' She threw her arms in the air. ' You could have killed him by just looking at him but instead you chose to let him overpower you. It was weak and pathetic.' She looked at me with disgust before settling back against the tombstone. 'I seriously have no idea why the Elders are so fascinated with you.' she mumbled, while she stared at me intensely.
'That makes two.'
We were both quiet as I finished filling the grave and walked back to the house. The Elders were calling her so she projected back to Spirit. I dragged myself up the porch and into the house. The moment I entered I was overcome by the smell of blood. It immobilized me for a few moments before I finally walked into the living room where I knew the majority of blood was. No instant cleaning here, I thought, as I got a wash cloth to clean up the blood. I knew it wasn't enough. I knew there was to much blood for the wash cloth to clean up but I just didn't care. I got on my knees, bloodying my jeans further. It didn't matter. Not anymore. I started cleaning the blood, Justin's life force, up. I didn't know why I was feeling like this. Why it felt like I was choking. Justin had tried to kill me, but it didn't feel like him. It didn't feel like I was looking at him, like his eyes were his. I suddenly felt a presence behind me.
I knew he was there. I knew he was watching me but I just couldn't deal with him right now. I plumbed down in the puddle of blood on the floor and burst into tears, letting go of everything I had been holding onto the moment I had left Justin. I felt a pair of cold arms hesitantly encircling me a few moments later.
'It's okay.' I hear Eric's soft voice say, as I closed my eyes and rested against his chest.
He carried me to the bathroom. I was curled up in his arms, crying into his shirt. He gently placed me on the counter before he went over to the shower and turned it on. He walked back to me and stood between my legs. He lifted off my shirt and pulled down my shorts before stopping. He searched my eyes for permission and then slowly took of my underwear, before stripping himself of all his clothes. I wanted to blush at seeing all of him, but I didn't have the will to. I didn't even feel embarrassed of being naked in front of him. I was far from perfect and he looked photoshopped. It hardly felt fair.
'Eric?'
'Mhhm.'
'How are you here?'
'I don't remember.'
We were lying in my bed, my head on his chest and his arm securely wrapped around my waist. It had taken a while to get all the blood off of us. When he had finished washing and dressing the both of us he had snuggled into bed next to me.
'No, I mean here... next to me.' I said softly, craning my neck to glance up at him.
'They sent me back.' He said thoughtfully, staring at the ceiling. He saw me gazing up at him and probbed himself onto his elbow 'I don't even remember doing that' Eric mused, brushing his thumb lightly down my neck and over the fang marks.
'You were in pretty bad shape.' I said, shooting him an apologetic look.
'I have bitten you before?'
'Yes.'
'Did it hurt?'
'No, I... I liked it.' Oh my god, I'm a freak. I'm a sadistic freak! Somewhere deep down I knew I didn't want him to leave and I knew that I liked when he bit me. That's why I didn't fight back as much when he attacked me in the parking lot and that's why I didn't leave him the night I found him on the side of the road. He made me feel... wanted. If not forever then this short amount of time he was staying with me. Maybe when he saw Sookie he would start having feelings for her again, he certainly would when he turned back to normal. But for now it wouldn't hurt to let myself feel again, would it?
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