Becoming the Demon
Chapter 2
PSA: Caitlyn is not always that bitchy.
Somebody screamed, and I shot bolt upright in a panic, looking for anybody around. When I started to calm down, I saw that a horror movie had started to play on TV and sighed. Fucking great. It took me hours to get to sleep. I wiggled down the couch and pulled the three blankets back into place, cursing at the cold feeling that still surrounded me. This is not fucking normal. Magic barely lasts a second on me, let alone 6 hours.
"There is no escape!" I tilted my head to watch the TV. Some creepy knife-wielding guy was chasing a short but cute girl, who managed to duck under a low pipe and stop him for a second. There's always an escape if you're smart enough. Well, except if you're cold. Then it's hopeless. Fucking hopeless. Kicking the blankets to the floor, I got up, shivering as I walked to the bathroom. A shower usually helps when I'm feeling like shit. I clicked the light on and started the shower. Not even the hot steam can warm me up.
"Oh, what the fuck?!" Was my reaction as I took my shirt off and caught my reflection in the mirror. There's a purple splat on my stomach! When the fuck did that happen?! Dropping the tank top, I started to rub at it with my hand, but not one part of it was budging. I don't know what the fuck is happening, but I have to get rid of this one way or another. As I was running the thought of acid over in my head, my apartment door lock clicked, and then the door opened.
"Vi?" Fuck. Why is Caitlyn here now?!
"One sec!" I picked my tank top back up and pulled it over my head, walking out to meet her. "What's up, Cupcake?"
"Am I interrupting something?" She was still in her uniform. Figures.
"No, no. I was just about to hop in the shower, but it can wait." She raised an eyebrow, but walked in and closed the door behind her.
"I just wanted to apologize for how I acted earlier. I have a lot on my mind." Even more of a reason to not tell her.
"Nah, don't worry about it." I grinned and started to rub my arms. Cait's eyes narrowed, and she took the few steps forward, gripping my bicep.
"Oh- You're freezing!"
"Yeah, I just can't shake it." She sighed and took her hat off, placing it on my coffee table.
"Have you eaten yet?" She pinched the bridge of her nose when I shook my head. "Go and take that shower. I'll make something for you." She's never a bitch for long. Walking back into the bathroom, I stripped down, glared at the purple mark on my stomach, and stepped into the shower, almost curing at the feeling of the water. It feels so fucking… unnatural? It doesn't feel right! Grumbling the entire time, I cleaned myself off and got out. The purple wasn't washed off at all. I don't know what the fuck it is, but I don't like it.
"Hey, Cait?" I called out after opening the door a bit. "Can you turn the heating up a bit?"
"Of course." Her heels clicked across the hardwood floor, and I pulled the door closed again. That's probably not going to help anything, but it's worth a shot. I walked out in a pair of boxers and a t-shirt, still drying my hair. "Do you still eat takeout three times a day?"
"Maybe?" She sighed, and glanced up at me when I walked in. She still seems to have found something to make.
"How are you feeling?" All I could respond with was a huff. "Do you think that you're coming down with a cold?"
"If I am, it can fuck off." The corner of her mouth twitched into a smile. "I'm surprised that you haven't complained that my place is a mess."
"That's because I'm surprised by how clean it is this time." I didn't know if she saw me sticking my tongue out at her, but I did it anyway. When she placed some pancakes in front of me, I smiled as I took a bite, which turned into a grimace when I closed my mouth. I… can't eat this. "Is something wrong?" Caitlyn asked as I slowly spat it out.
"I'm not sure. I don't think I can eat anything."
"Are you sure it isn't my cooking?" She asked, sliding into the seat next to me.
"When have I ever complained about your cooking?" Cait smiled and leaned on the counter.
"There was that one time that I added salt instead of sugar by mistake." She raised an eyebrow at me. "And you still ate it."
"Hey, you were having a bad day. I didn't want to upset you more." I'm being a bit of a hypocrite about it now.
"That ended when I tasted it myself." Caitlyn chuckled and picked up the fork I didn't use to taste what she'd made. "Well, I can't say that these are terrible. Why can't you eat them, though?"
"I don't know." I started playing with my fingers. "It just… doesn't feel right." She leaned over and pressed the back of her hand against my forehead, recoiling on contact.
"You're still cold!" I shrugged. "Maybe you should go to the hospital?"
"Do you really think that they'd let me in?" She looked away with a thoughtful look.
"I don't understand how you can be so cold. I turned the heating up, and I'm feeling it." Cait turned in her chair and looked into my front room, where the TV was still on. "I might have to turn it back down."
"Go for it." She nodded, got up, and crossed the room. Looking back at the pancakes, I tried to take another bite, but my mouth completely stopped working, and I grimaced. I can't even explain it.
"You don't have to try and force yourself to eat, you know." I felt her hand on my back as I spat it out again.
"It was worth another shot, right?" I pushed myself out of the chair, pulling the leg of my boxers back down. "Want to watch TV?"
"As long as it's not that horrendous horror movie." Dodging past Caitlyn, I jumped onto the couch and laid out on it, grinning when she walked over. "Would you like me to cover you up?"
"It's like we're a married couple, fucks sake." I laughed. She wasn't quite as amused. After covering me in blankets, Caitlyn sat down in my comfiest armchair, took her boots off, and tucked her feet under herself. We throw insults at each other, but Cait and I couldn't be better friends.
~~~~~~~~~~~~X~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whispers. I pushed myself up and looked around. It wasn't the TV this time. I looked around, but saw nothing. The only other person in my apartment should be Caitlyn. Who is asleep. I should move her. As I got up, the cold feeling had started to settle in my stomach, which made me want to vomit even more. Swallowing it, I lifted Caitlyn into one arm, smiling when she mumbled something. I was careful as I walked across the front room and pushed my bedroom door open.
End it… There's the whispering again. I tucked Caitlyn in and walked back out of the room, quietly pulling the door shut. Like she said, she has a lot on her mind. She doesn't need my problems. Walking back into the bathroom, I clicked the light on and pulled my shirt off. Is that mark getting bigger? From my navel, it's about the length of my thumb to the edge. Another whisper passed by my ear.
"Whoever the fuck that is better quit it." I growled, looking around myself. "I am not in the mood."
Borrowed time… I stuck my little finger in my ear and wiggled it around. Somebody's either fucking with me, or I'm hearing things. Somebody's probably fucking with me. Jinx probably broke in and put a speaker somewhere. If my place blows, I'll know why. I pressed one of my hands against the mark, hoping for something. It feels like a damned stone, but it hasn't physically changed. I'll definitely have to use some bleach.
"Like I said before, whatever the fuck this is better stop." I said, pulling my shirt back on. Walking back into the front room, I turned the TV off, folded my blankets up, and walked into the kitchen to clean up. Ok, so. When that crystal shattered, I had some weird kind of hallucination about some purple shit going into my mouth, and ever since, I've been cold as hell. I also have this weird purple mark on my stomach. Maybe I'm hallucinating that, too since I can't rub it off. As I finished with the dishes, I looked at the bottle of cleaner next to me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~X~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Do you smell bleach?" I looked up at Caitlyn, who was sat at her desk with a confused expression.
"No." I looked back at my paperwork, my pen scratching the paper.
"It's been there since we left this morning. It's really starting to bother me." I shrugged and leaned on my fist. My gauntlets were leant against my desk, and I was tapping them with my foot every now and then. "Are you feeling any better?"
"I'm fine, Caitlyn." I turned in my chair and gave her a grin, but I apparently wasn't convincing her. "Don't worry, I've had worse."
"It's still concerning if you're sick. I've seen you heal up from an explosion in minutes." I shrugged. "You also usually eat a lot."
"Are you calling me fat?" She sighed and shook her head, hiding a smile.
"No, I'm not. You exercise a lot, its normal." She knows I joke around, but still plays it back by over-explaining. It's a vicious circle.
"So… you're calling me fit?" She rolled her eyes when I flexed. "Why don't you just jump on me right now?"
"We're working." One thing I don't like about Caitlyn is that she straight-faces everything so I can never tell if she's joking or not. "Anyway, as I was saying, there's never usually a doughnut left in the building, but they've barely been touched."
"I just don't feel like eating." I turned back to finish my paperwork.
"You're also doing your work with minimal complaining." I fought back the urge to sigh. "You can tell me if something's wrong, Vi."
"It's nothing, Cait." I'm sure that she opened her mouth to say something, but turned back to her own desk. About 5 minutes later, she sighed again.
"That smell of bleach is really starting to bother me." Instinctively, I gripped the cloth over my stomach. It wasn't my brightest idea. "Would you mind if I sprayed some perfume?"
"Go for it." A couple of desk drawers opened, and sure enough, the smell of vanilla started to fill the room. "Since when do you have one that smells like vanilla?"
"I've had it a while, but never really used it." I turned back around in my seat. "Do you really notice what perfume I wear?" Cait asked, eyebrow raised.
"We barely spend any time apart, of course I notice." She stared at me for a few seconds. "Like I noticed that you 'borrowed' some of my body spray." I said, with added air quotes.
"You say that as if you expect me to come to work without using it."
"With the amount of clothes that you keep at my place, I'm surprised you don't move some perfume into there, too." Caitlyn mumbled something I didn't hear and put the perfume away. "Should I get you some of the body spray I use?" I grinned. "You can smell like a bodybuilder."
"No, it's okay; I'll give you that honour." She turned in her chair to look at me again. I hid a grimace when I felt my stomach tighten. Maybe that's because I haven't been eating. "You don't seem to mind me keeping clothes in your apartment, though."
"Why would I mind? You sleep at my place at least twice a week now."
"As long as you don't mind." Cait turned back to her desk, and I turned back to mine, wincing at the new pain in my stomach. I don't really want to pull my shirt up to see if anything's changed. Caitlyn might see the burns, if they haven't healed. Speaking of which, she sighed again and said; "I can still smell bleach."
I love the relationship between Vi and Caitlyn. It's (mostly) pure, with a good amount of tension.