It had been a fortnight. A week since Priscilla teleported out of the forest and straight into her closed shower door. When Lucy had confronted Priscilla a few nights later about breaking the promise, it was Lucy's expression after Priscilla had explained the parts of the night Lucy's had missed that had Priscilla up the rest of the week Googling every crumb of information on this "Slender Man". Priscilla found a lot, apparently this guy was pretty popular. Most of the photos Priscilla found were clearly Photoshopped, others hand-drawn illustrations by amateur arts with some serious talent. Priscilla watched every YouTube video that hinted at his name, those included gameplay, speed paints, animated vine and meme compilations, documentaries, and something call Marble Hornet…
Priscilla was in the sparring room Lucy and her shared since it took up the whole south wing of our beach side mansion. Lucy occupied the ground floors while Priscilla lived in the upper, leaving the middle for guest or sleepovers during a full or new moon unlike tonight. Lucy had been trying to convince Priscilla to forget about Slender and enjoy knocking a few demons around the mat but she couldn't.
I'm now officially obsessed with a entity not of Heaven or Hell, Priscilla thought as Lucy busted her in the air with interlocked fingers so Priscilla could bat another imp out of the air with a training staff. On Priscilla's way down out of the air, an archdemon decided to grab one of Priscilla's ankles and throw her against the mats below on her chest. Believe me when I say being slammed on your boobies from fourteen feet by a guy with the strength of Hulk hurts more than getting kicked in the balls for men.
"That wasn't very smart," Priscilla groaned as black veins raced down her slim leg then up him hand and arm, reaching his chest. "See you in hell, dumbass."
"Stop," Lucy ordered after the man collapsed at Priscilla's feet, the amount of Power in the word making Priscilla's heart still for several beats before Lucy spoke to Priscilla personally. "The girls okay, Kitty?"
"Fine," Priscilla snorted, adjusting her rode up spandex shorts and sports bra. "Nothing serious."
"Why don't you go caught a shower and get some sleep, you look like the dead?" Lucy suggested while Priscilla retrieved her hoodie hanging not too far away.
With a much deserved middle finger raised to Lucy for her end comment, Priscilla exited the room and made her way down the hall. Priscilla trudged up the stairs, flipping up her hood and pulling the zipper up to hide any exposed skin. Priscilla was horribly lost in her thoughts by the time she got to her rooms, the only entrances were that door and four pairs of French doors that lead to size varying balconies.
Speaking of balconies, Priscilla's auto piloted body had her opening one of the French sets and in the pouring rain before she could eject herself from her subconscious. By the time Priscilla was aware of her surroundings, Priscilla's clothes were soaked through and she was standing on the stone safety wall that held boxes filled with different colored lilies and overlooked a thirty foot drop to the front door and acres of evergreen trees. Priscilla lowered herself to sit on the wall Criss-cross-applesauce with her elbows on her knees and chin in her hands. Priscilla tapped her fingers against her cheeks as she scanned the view.
A ghostly looking business man in a black suit, white shirt, and a red tie stood in front of the gate to the home unbothered by the rain. His black hair was slicked back save for a lock that hung above his hypnotic powder eyes which were now glaring at Priscilla for not plummeting to her not so possible death, a grimace forming on his lip. Priscilla smirked at him and waved teasingly before blinking. Teleportation ability, confirmed, Priscilla thought and checked it off her mental list when she saw the man was gone, leaving not a single grain of sand disturbed where he had been standing.
"Now about that shower..." Priscilla trailed off, swinging her legs over to the safer part of the balcony.
Priscilla strolled to the closest bathroom with not a care in the world except warm water and her lavender scented all-in-one. Immediately after exiting the shower, Priscilla wrapped her towel dried body in her favorite silk robe as she wandered in the direction of her bedroom. Priscilla opened the door and moved towards her closet to dress in boy shorts, a sports bra, leggings, and her favorite Assassins Creed hoodie. Before heading to the living room, where her velvet wing chair seemed more interesting than her bed, Priscilla grabbed her Rod from under her pillows and phone off my vanity along with my headphones.
"True, it's chilling to behold. Up close we stumble backwards laughing in our boats. Till the image sinks away to someplace far but certain. A land of mute suspension where someday we must go," Priscilla sang along to Imperial Mammoth as she drifted across the ceiling rafters that interconnected her floor's rooms, not including the bathrooms.
How had Priscilla made it up on the rafters, you may ask? To put it simply, she jumped. That's also the way she got down. Priscilla landed on the ottoman in front of the sectional sofa, flats screen TV, and the wingback. In said chair sat none other than the man in the suit himself, Slender Man. How he positioned himself in the chair was almost as if he always sat there. His ankle balanced on his knee, his right elbow rested on the armrest while his thumb and forefinger supported his head as the others fingers hung close to his bottom lip. Priscilla turned and sat comfortably on the ottoman Indian style in front of him, just staring at him. Slender was the one to break the stillness, reaching dangerously close to Priscilla's face before she could jerk back to a safer distance.
"Don't," Priscilla warned him calmly.
"I did not intend to inflict harm upon you," he admitted, his voice sincere.
"Yeah well, at the moment, I'm not really worried about self-preservation," Priscilla confessed, being careful not to touch skin, as she moved his hand back to its previous position. "From what once brought Life into the world will deliver Death. Her Touch shall be feared by all creatures of Creation when Earth's Moon is not hidden or viewed in full."
"You have confused me, Woman," Slender stated, watching Priscilla stand on the cushion and leapfrog to then off the couch. "Was that meant as a threat?"
"A warning actually," Priscilla corrected, heading towards the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. "A piece of advice for you and your friends, that is if you ever intend to bring any over on a night without a full or new moon. Coffee?"
_
Slender could see Priscilla waver every few minutes. Slender would watch her gaze glaze over after the convention had lapsed into silent. However, no matter how many times she faltered the smallest thing would capture her attention and 'wake' her. It was frustrating yet intriguing how attuned she was with the surrounds and how unaffected she was by my presence. Her ears and eyes could catch the slightest of movement on my part but her reactions remained uncaring. On the other hand, her movements were practically soundless even in her hazed state and Slender occasionally witnessed her glaring at the air as if scolding herself.
"When did you last sleep?" Slender inquired as Priscilla curled up in the wingback Slender had previously occupied before they had moved to the kitchen for coffee.
For such a small person, in comparison to himself, the chair accommodated quite nicely as an alternative bed. Her head rested against the corner padding as a makeshift pillow while her legs hung over an armrest. Both arms laid across her stomach, one hand holding a phone the other the true object of his interest.
"Tuesday I think," Priscilla answers, covering a yawn in the process, before a knock sounded at the door. "That should be Lucy. Would you be a gentleman and get the door for her, you can teleport if you think it's faster?"
Slender rose from his seat as the Priscilla's eyes closed and slender walked to the door. Slender opened it slowly, not sure about this Lucy character. Compared to Priscilla this Lucy was almost a complete opposite. Blonde, tanned, red-brown eyes, slightly taller, overly developed, immodest, and Power radiating. Slender moved away from the door as Lucy advanced Priscilla's dozing form.
"May I ask why he is still here and my housemate is half passed out in a chair?" Lucy questioned, pointing a finger at both of them.
"Oh, shut up," Priscilla groaned into the back of her chair with her hand pressed against her ears. "Slendy can leave when he want, he been good boy whole time."
"Fine whatever, Kitty Cat," Lucy surrendered.
"Good boy?" Slender repeated questionably, raking his eyes once again over the lady in black and winning a snarl from Lucy. "Kitty Cat?"
"First, let's get something straight Slim Jim," Lucy began, Power oozing from every syllable. "If you or anyone like you intentionally hurts my Kitty Cat mentally, emotionally, or even physically their next breath will send them right to the Pits, compendia?"
Slender inclined his head slowly, alternating his gaze between the two females. Slender's mind was flooded with questions that would have to wait until his next opportunity to visit.
Priscilla woke up in her bed fully aware that wasn't where she had fallen asleep. Priscilla smiled at the memory of Lucy's threat but dropped it like a hot potato when she began to wonder how long she had been asleep. Priscilla hurried to her closet to ditch her hoodie and pulled on a tank top and cardigan. Priscilla was hopping around the room trying to pull on a pair of skinny jeans when her cell began blaring Toccata & Fugue in D Minor. After rebounding from a possibly spastic moment, Priscilla retrieved her phone from the dresser and scrolled through the sixty-six text messages she had slept through. All of them read the same, You awake yet, Kitty?, except for the last, I know you're up, Kitty. I can hear you stomping around like a fucking elephant up there. Slender's here to see you, he brought a friend, want me to send him up?
Please, but tell them to use the door. Priscilla wrote back locating her Rod in the mess of sheets that was her bed. Priscilla stuffed her phone in her back pocket and with a twist lessened the bulk of the Rod to more of a Wand. As Priscilla padded her way to the kitchen, Priscilla secured the Wand behind ear. Priscilla snuck a glance at the celestial calendar on her refrigerator before opening one of the doors and snatching a prepackaged danish from a quick breakfast. Priscilla threw the sorry excuse for a pastry on the table as she went to make herself some coffee. As the liquid trickled into the pot, Priscilla searched for her favorite almond toffee Lucy always bought her after a big sleep like now.
"One second!" Priscilla hollered from the kitchen after a knock at the door.
Priscilla closed her eyes and envisioned the entrance and with a flick of her wrist she heard the door swing open and smack against the wall. Priscilla reached back and gave herself a little pat on the back. Priscilla could hear murmured conversation between two voices, Slender's rumbling baritone and a more husky bass. Priscilla listened as one of them closed the door while the other advanced her location. Priscilla was sipping at her coffee with her feet in the chair when a rose so dark a red it was practically black found itself before her. Priscilla set down her mug gently on the table with her eyes transfixed on the flower the whole time.
"Go on," the voice urged seductively, Power lancing the suggestion in a way that made Priscilla's body heat up. "It's for you. Take it."
Priscilla breath hitch in her chest as warm air swept across the back of her neck, bring to my attention to how close he was to her. Priscilla unfocused her vision to see a pulsating silver String. Priscilla reached back to her ear and lifted out the Wand to allow her hair slide over her ear. Priscilla twirled the Wand in between her fingers, muttering a unbinding spell, as she careful took the plant's stem with her thumb and forefinger. As the String hung suspended in midair between his finger and the rose, Priscilla sent a spark of Power to her Wand and cut clean through the String. Priscilla smirked as the man's hand quivered before balling into a fist so tight his knuckles turned white.
"Thank you..." Priscilla trailed off, waiting for him to offer up his name.
"Offender," he growled deep in his throat, his tone still seductive but void of Power. "But you Kitten can call my Smexy."
"Well, Offender," Priscilla started to say as she turned in her chair. "Thank you so very much for the lovely rose. No Strings attached, right?"
The man that loomed over Priscilla now was nothing like the one that stood a ways away in his office apparel. Offender was a different beast altogether. For one, they dressed totally different. Whereas Slender wore a suit. Offender rocked a fedora, trenchcoat, low ride pants, and combat boots. Using the flower to tilt his head to either side, Priscilla noted the long dark hair tied at the back of the neck and milk chocolate eyes that stayed locked on Priscilla's face. The only reoccurring trait between the two would be their strong jawlines.
"I'm afraid so Kitty Cat," Smexy fake frowned down at Priscilla. "You and Lucy are just too smart for me."
"And you're a bit more informed of my situation than Slender was at his start," Priscilla stated, placing the rose behind her ear.
"You'll just be easier to hold on certain days of the month," Offendy pointed out. "By the calendar of your refrigerator, my first chance will be in twelve days."
Priscilla smiled at that but it was ruined by the snarl that ripped its way through her empty stomach. Offender raised an eyebrow at the sound then shook his head at Priscilla's 'breakfast'. Offender grabbed the danish off the table and chucked it in the trash as he passed. At some point, Slender had teleported into the chair behind Priscilla.
"How did you know about the String?" Slendy asked, yanking Priscilla's attention away from Smexy removing his coat.
"I saw it," Priscilla replied, picking up her coffee mug. "I just had to try harder."
Slender ended the conversation there and turned his hard eyes to Offender puttering about the kitchen. Priscilla continued to stare at Slender, she had yet to understand his need the evaded the questions that he wanted to ask but wouldn't. Priscilla wasn't going to push him. I push when I want answers not when other people want answers from me, Priscilla defended herself mentally. Despite her best efforts to not stare at how Offender's muscles rippled as he cooked up the bacon he'd found somewhere in Priscilla's fridge, Priscilla found herself accidentally committing the crime several times. Can you really blame her, there was a living breathing bare chested Adonis making breakfast right in front of her?
"I'm so dead," Priscilla swooned, dropping her head on the table.
_
There was always one aspect I've found present in every Man, persistence. Once they find a being they deem worth pursuing, they become obsessed with every characteristic of that being that would be seen as a weaknesses….
Priscilla had already captured Slender's attention the night she had summoned armies of roots to entangle him, She is powerful.
Slender came to believe her ignorance was the only reason for Priscilla's calm demeanor but discarded the hypothesis as soon as Offender had hacked her computer three days later, She is knowledgeable.
A week after their forest encounter, Slender had manipulated Priscilla's body into almost committing suicide by plummeting off her south facing balcony while her mind contemplated other matters, She is thoughtful.
However, Priscilla had ejected herself somehow from her thoughts before Slender could gain victory, She can protect herself.
Priscilla had stayed out in the pouring rain until she met Slender's eyes and smirked it spite of his attempt to kill her seconds prior, She did not care.
In the time Priscilla required to bathe and dress, Slender had surveyed her living space and positioned himself in her favorite chair presuming an angered reaction, She is not angry.
Even when in a fatigued state, Priscilla moved soundlessly and sensed every movement or sound around her, She is stealthy and vigilant.
When Priscilla could not longer fend off sleep, she had called upon Lucy to watch over her, She is responsible and resourceful.
In this visitation, Slender had ask for his brother's company to see how Priscilla would react to Offender's more alluring nature compared to Slender's intimidation. Offender had agreed only after Slender told him a bit about Priscilla, physical description mostly.
After a unattended greeting, both Men found Priscilla comfortably seated at her kitchen table taking delicate sips from the same chipped mug from when she and Slender last saw each other. Offender wasted no time in tempting Priscilla as soon as he saw her. When Offender saw a woman of Priscilla's caliber with so much clothing on it was impossible to restrain him. Slender watched closely as Priscilla was captivated by the Dark Rose's beauty but noticed, as she set her cup on the dark wood, the purpose in her movement though her attention was lock on the flower.
"Go on," Offender insisted, his voice causing Priscilla's breath to hitch. "It's for you. Take it."
Slender tracked Priscilla's slightest movements and reactions as her whole demeanor shifted. As her breathing returned to normal, Priscilla extended a hand back to grab the stick placed behind her ear. Priscilla begun twisting the smooth stick between her nimble fingers while mouthing inaudible verbiage. With great care not to make even the slightest of contact skin to skin, Priscilla accepted the token of her possible destruction. Just as Slender started considering Offender's victory where he had failed, Priscilla did the unthinkable and severed the binding String that connected Offender's victims to the Unspoken Deal accepted along with a rose colored red. A smirk disfigured Slender's calm expression a second before it disintegrated. Offender handled the failure gracefully, brushing it off as Priscilla turned the conversation to more lighthearted topics. Slender moved to the chair behind Priscilla as Offender and her exchanged playful nicknames and verbal teases.
After a very boisterous protest from Priscilla's stomach, Slender meet eyes with Offender and then they both glowered at the pathetic plastic packed piece of processed preservatives. Offender snatched the pastry off the table and chucked it in the nearest reciprocal. Priscilla spotted Slender behind her a moment after Offender began raiding her kitchen.
"How did you know about the String?" Slender inquired harshly, ripping her eyes away from my brother's display of indecent exposure.
"I saw it," Priscilla stated plainly as if it was a common response in this situation. "I just had to try harder."
Priscilla's answer left Slender confused as to the magnitude of her Power. Compared to Priscilla's acquaintance, Lucy, who was overflowing with Darkness, Priscilla emitted not a trace of Power but astounded Slender with her usage of complicated techniques with such ease. When her attention found it way back to Offender, Slender set his gaze on the slim spindle that was held by her ear. The structure of the object had a similar likeness to the rod Priscilla had toted around in a firm grip the entity of Slender's previous visit. Slender was almost curtain the two were one of the same but Priscilla tuned in her seat before Slender could be one hundred percent sure.
"I'm so dead," Priscilla stunned Slender with her outburst as her head dropped against the wooden tabletop with a notable crack.
_
Priscilla had kind of zoned out while she inhaled three plates full of scrambled eggs and bacon along with two cups of coffee with toffee. Priscilla was at my limit for Souls and was trying to Sort a few of them so she wouldn't feel so overfilled. Of course her guests found that extremely rude and called her out on it, "Death!" Priscilla practically fell backwards in her chair in an attempt to save her eardrums from their hollering. When all four legs of the chair were back on the floor Priscilla's hands went immediately to the table. Priscilla placed a hand over her slow beating heart and tried her best to return it to its natural stillness.
"What?" Priscilla screamed at the same volume.
"You were spacing out pretty bad, Kitten," Offendy explained.
"Sorry, I was Sorting at the table," Priscilla apologized like a kid caught with their hand in a cookie jar. "It just, I have so many Souls. They were causing me to feel really bloated and blocking out your presents was the only way I could concentrate enough to Sort some of them out."
Offender seem pleased with the admittance almost as much as Slender was. Before Offender could ask, "What about us exactly is so distracting?" Priscilla was up out of her seat. Priscilla considered her answer as she moved towards the sink.
"I don't mean for this to sound offensive, but your Scents are strangely overpowering," Priscilla replied after placing her dish in the sink.
Slendy and Offender glanced at each other across the table. Priscilla turned in time to witness the tail end of the exchange and braced her hands against the edge of the counter. Slender appeared to be impressed, but Priscilla couldn't be sure. He was harder to read compared to Offender. Smexy had this suspicious smirk stretched across his lip, a look normally used by Lucy, as he rose from his chair and advanced Priscilla's position.
"Now you've made me quite curious, Kitty Cat," Smexy purred, causing Priscilla to go statue still, as his arms caged her in. "What exactly do I smell like that's so distracting?"
Priscilla was breathing heavily through her mouth, as a means to save her nose from the discomforting delicious aroma of the slightly less desirable brother, to calm herself. Priscilla succeeded in swallowing the gag that crawled up the walls of her throat before she dared to speak.
"You smell like the perfume department at Macy's mixed with the lust, sweat, and cigarette smoke of the Seventh Circle," Priscilla elaborated, heaving herself up on to the ledge of the sink.
The answer seemed to satisfy Smexy for a moment before he asked, "What about the skeleton behind me?" Priscilla's gaze went to Slender who appeared to be mental stabbing Offender in the back. Priscilla's head automatically tilted to the side in confusion. Offender seemed annoyed at Priscilla's lagging response and made an attempt at her arms.
"A bonfire party gone wrong," at the sound of Priscilla's voice Offender froze in place. "Sweet copper blood and the musk of pine mingled with earthy soil. Consuming fire soothed by rain."
_
I can't even begin to tell you how annoying two Tree Men can be. First it was Slender with his conversation skills, which to me seemed practically nonexistent. But him alone I could handle, at least he respected boundaries. Speaking of boundaries, don't get me started with Offender's constant need to flirt and invade personal space. It was like he wanted Priscilla to kill him, and to be honest she was considering it.
Maybe that's why she was in such a nasty mood...
"Someone's out for blood today," Lucy smirked as Priscilla's mited fist connected with the pitted punching bag.
"I'll give you one guess," Priscilla growled, stepping away for the bag.
"Tree men," Lucy stated after launching herself onto a balance beam.
"Ding ding ding," Priscilla exclaimed than throw one last punch, launching the bag across the room. "We have a winner."
Everything went quiet. Priscilla felt something was off, like everything in the room had been shifted an inch to the right. Priscilla looked over at Lucy, showing Lucy her subtle discomfort. Lucy nodded, indicating that she to noticed the slight difference. Slowly a sadistic grin crossed Lucy's face as she sung, "They're here..." Both women did two sweeps each, one watching the top and the other the lower half as they cover each other's six.
"Nothing, " Priscilla announced confused. "You?"
"Same," Lucy reported, identical confusion mixing in her voice. "Weird. Maybe we should check our rooms?"
Lucy waves her hand. Priscilla followed her out of the workout room and into Lucy's personal living quarters, grabbing her hoodie on the way out.
Lucy, being the Devil herself, had almost as much of a unhealthy obsession with red as Priscilla did with black. Lucy's rooms reflected her fully as the Queen of all things bad but only showcased the "nicer" side as to lure you in. Priscilla didn't quite like how Lucy designed the layout of the rooms. It was hard to tell what each full room really looked like do to all the stupid shier red, orange, and occasionally yellow drapes hanging all about the room obscuring your view.
"Dammit Lucy," Priscilla hissed, batting another annoying three yards wide of fabric from my face. "How many times have I told you to get rid of these stupid things?"
"Ha," Lucy laughed right in Priscilla's face. "What about your Tree Men."
"You know what, I don't care what you think you're trying to imply with that statement. I'm not sorry for being curious."
"Curiosity killed the cat."
"Then thanks you God that I'm not a cat. Now, just scream if anything finds you, I'm going up stairs to check my rooms and no you can't come with me. No hypercritical demonic bitches allowed." With that Priscilla left the sputtering Devil with her disorienting draperies.
Priscilla ascended the staircase with watchful eyes, checking every possible crevice in which Offender or Slender could hide and even behind herself. It was when Priscilla reached her rooms did she feel the full intercity of his presence. Out of precaution, Priscilla made a beeline straight for her bedroom. Priscilla needed her Rod and mentally strangled/slapped herself for not having it in the first place.
With both of her legs wrapped around a rafter, Priscilla lowered herself over her bed and, with an outstretched a hand, summoned her Rod to her. Priscilla caught it out of the air as it darted out of her messy pile of sheets and then proceeded to pull herself back up onto the rafter beam. As Priscilla was doing so, something wound itself quickly around her waist and yanked her free from the beam. However, instead of ending up on her bed like physics would suggest, Priscilla was forced against a very solid wall with her hands braced over her head. Priscilla had her eyes closed and was breathing hard do to the amount of adrenaline rushing through her veins. Priscilla tried to calm herself but the static in her ears wasn't helping.
"Are you scared, Percilla?"
"Not quite, Slendy," Priscilla paused, meeting the blank-slate of a faced her captor. "But I am five seconds away from painting part of my room whatever color your blood is."
"Oh, really?" he challenged, moving closer.
"Either that or my Curse will get to your heart first," Priscilla smirked, noticing the shifting of his not so present features. "I can see the pain it's causing you. It almost makes me want to stop you. Too bad watching you seethe in pain for your stupidity is much more entertaining."
"You aren't exactly comfortable in your situation either," the static was almost unbearable at this point, not to mention how close he had gotten.
"A bit more than you," Priscilla flat out smiled with insanity. "Hell, I'm a little surprised you've lasted long enough to hold this conversation. Too bad you've come to the end of your rope, Slender M-"
The thick black tentacles holding Priscilla captive disappeared miraculously and she dropped to the floor confused. Teleportation, most definitely. Priscilla thought standing up. As Priscilla exited her room, a scream loud enough to reach her ears filled the house. There was only one person Priscilla knew that could scream that loud. Without a second thought, Priscilla was moving as fast as her legs could carry her to and down the stairs. When she finally reached Lucy's rooms, Priscilla had her Rod fully morphed into its Sword variation since the Staff and Scythe would have taken up too much room.
"Lucy!" Priscilla called out, waiting for Lucy to holler back but began to worry when she didn't. "Well, I'm fucked."
"Mmm...Now that's an idea I can get behind," Offender's voice purred somewhere in the room just as felt something tighten around Priscilla's ankle.
Microseconds before it could rip the ground from beneath her feet, someone grabbed Priscilla from behind and held her against their chest. Priscilla's free hand took hold of one of the arms keeping her in place as the stark white tendril continued to pull her to the creature it was connected to. Fed up with literally having someone yanking her leg, Priscilla swung her Sword and severed the appendage. Thus causing her and her keeper to stumble back a couple paces.
"Get me away from him," Priscilla breathed, glaring at the partially faceless figure now visible thanks to the curtains shifting. "Do that one thing and the night of the full moon I'm yours alone, uninterrupted."
"Here Kitty-kitty," Priscilla groaned in disgust at how Offender's Power laced beckon made her body react, causing her to turn away from him and into Slender's warm chest to keep herself from fulfill the murderous intents floating in her head now tainted with lust.
"Mine alone," Slender's Voice sent a shiver of fear through Priscilla's being.
Priscilla had never heard it before, not even in the woods when we first met. It honestly scared her, but not enough for her to let go. The alternative wasn't worth the effort, it was a option Priscilla wouldn't consider, considering the people it would affect.