#darkentity

        The young man drew a rune within each of the appropriate points of the star.  “Renee, would you please stop worrying so much.  You act like I’ve never done this before.”

        “You’ve never done anything on this scale.  This isn’t a simple spell; it’s a major summoning, usually done by an entire coven. Two people are not a coven, Chad. If we don’t have enough power to hold him, he could escape the barrier and kill us.  He would be free on this plane to do whatever he wanted.”

        He looked up at her.  “Don’t tell me, you’re chickening out on me!” He stood up and crossed the room to stand in front of her.  He grabbed her face between his hands and said, “You know how important this is for me … for us.  I need you, Renee,” he kissed her forcefully, then continued, “I would hate to have to snap your pretty little neck.”

        “I would do anything for you, Chad, you know that.  I’m just asking you to be careful with this.”  She inched closer to her lover, putting her hands on his chest.  “I love you, baby… but if you threaten me again, I’ll cut off your balls, and feed them to my snake.”

        He smiled, kissed her again, and replied, “That’s my girl!  Now, put the components inside the hexagram so we can finish this.”  He dropped his hands, slid them down to her waist, and pulled her tight against him.  “After tonight, we will be more powerful than all of the coven combined.  They won’t have a choice, but to reinstate us and give us the position in the hierarchy that we deserve.”

        “I love it when you talk like that.”  Renee slid her hand across his chest, as she stepped around him, and walked over to the trunk in the far corner of the room.  She pulled out the needed components, except for the last, and most important one, and placed them underneath the runes.  She went back to the trunk and retrieved a dagger, a chalice, and three strips of cloth.  She closed the trunk, then walked to where Chad stood in front of the lectern, checking the book to be sure everything was perfect.  “Are you ready?”

        “I think so.”

        “Be sure.  I don’t want to die here.”

        He scanned the text, flipping from page to page, only to find everything in order.  “It’s ready.  I’ll go get her, you stay here, and make the preparations.”

        She placed the goblet on the small table at the front of the room, then put the dagger to the right and the cloth to the left of the gold chalice.  She turned toward the door, as he reentered the room dragging the bound and gagged teenage girl behind him.  “My dearest Chad, you’ve done very well.”  Renee took the girl’s face in her hand, forcing her to look her in the eye. “You usually bring me whiney little cry-babies, but this one… she’s strong and defiant.  I like her.”  The girl snatched away from Renee.

        “She’s not for us, Renee. She’s the offering, remember?”

        “I remember.”  The woman grabbed the girl by the wrist, picked up the dagger, and with a quick, fluid movement sliced the girl’s left palm open.  The girl let out a muffled scream of pain and tried to jerk free of the man’s grip. Chad grabbed the girl around the waist and held her hands out in front of them.  Renee replaced the dagger on the table and picked up the chalice.  She held it under the girl’s outstretched and bleeding hand.  

        “You’re right, though. This one would be lots of fun.” He kissed the girl’s neck, as she struggled unsuccessfully against his hold.

        Renee put the goblet back on the table, took a piece of cloth, and bound the bleeding wound.  “If I had known you were bringing me this gem, I would’ve had you do it earlier, so we could’ve had our fun, before the ritual. Maybe, he’ll let us play with her for a while, before he completely destroys her.”

        Chad dragged the struggling girl over to a mat in the corner.  He threw her down on it and chained her ankle to a shackle attached to the wall.  “You know they don’t like to share.”  He walked back to the table, where Renee was waiting, dagger in hand.

        She took his left hand in hers and kissed his palm.  “A girl can hope, can’t she?”  She placed the blade on his palm and with a practiced hand, sliced deeply along the existing scar.  He held his hand over the chalice, watching as the blood streamed into the cup. Renee placed the dagger back on the table, and bound the wound lovingly, as soon as he nodded his consent to do so.

        Chad picked up the dagger, took her left hand, and quickly sliced open her scar.  The woman squeezed the blood from her hand into the goblet, until it was nearly full.  Chad wrapped the cloth around her hand, and then tied it.  He pulled her to him and kissed her fiercely.  He grabbed her hair and snatched her head back sharply, then kissed down the length of her neck, before biting her shoulder, hard but playful. He heard her sharp intake of breath through her clenched teeth and laughed.  “We’ll have to finish this later.  It’s time to get on with the ritual.”

        Renee smiled in anticipation, as he released her.  She picked up the chalice, and handed it to him, saying, “Blood of the unwilling, mixed with the blood of the willing; the final component.”

        He carried the chalice to the hexagram and placed it below the proper rune.  He took his place in front of the ancient tome and held his hand out for Renee to join him.  He closed his eyes to settle his racing thoughts, took a deep breath, and began the incantation, Renee falling in behind him.

        The girl knew she was in trouble.  She braced her feet against the wall, took the chain in her blood-caked hands, and pulled with all her strength.  She tried to jerk it out of the wall repeatedly, but it still wouldn’t budge, and the force she was using aggravated the wound in her palm.  Angry and scared, she screamed in frustration, as the tears spilled from her eyes.

        The chanting of her captors brought back her focus.  She looked around her and saw the table.  The knife is on the table.  Please, please, just let me reach it.  She crawled the length of the chain and reached out for the table, but she could only touch the leg with the end of her fingertips.  

        She rolled over on her side and realized the chanting had stopped.  She looked up to see the woman standing over her, smiling menacingly. The woman reared back her leg and kicked the girl in the stomach.  The girl groaned and coughed through the gag, balling up, as much as she could with her leg chained to the wall.  The woman grabbed the girl by the hair and dragged her back to the mat.

        A cold wind swirled around the room, making the flames from the candles dance madly.  A crackling sound caught the girl’s attention, and she watched, as ice began to creep across the window, above where she was laying. “It’s time, Renee.  Bring her.”  The woman unlocked the shackle and pulled the girl roughly from the floor.  

        The girl saw her chance; she threw her full weight into the woman, knocking her into the table.  The woman grabbed the edge to try and stop her fall, but her weight pulled the table over with her.  The girl ran for the door, only to be grabbed by the man. She knew she only had this one chance. She kicked backward wildly, catching the man in the knee.  He screamed, and dropped her, as he fell to one knee, and she pushed him in a desperate attempt to escape.  He fell into the hexagram, knocking over a candle and the chalice, spilling wax and blood all over the floor.  

        The woman pulled herself up from the floor and picked up the dagger.  “You stupid, fucking bitch!”  Renee grabbed the girl by the hair, as she stumbled from pushing Chad, spun her around, and drove the dagger into the teen’s chest.

        “No!”  Chad sat up on the edge of the hexagram, a wild look of fear in his eyes.  “What have you done?”

        “Oh, God!”  She looked down at the dying girl on the floor, and the bloody dagger in her hand.  She let the blade fall to the ground, and choked out, “Run!”

        The door slammed shut, and they knew it was too late.  Wild maniacal laughter rattled the windows and vibrated through their chests.  A violent shudder racked through Chad’s body, as he floated into the air.  He screamed through gnashed teeth, his body seizing ferociously.  

        Renee screamed, “No, stop! Stop, please!”  He fell silent, and his body went limp, then dropped to the floor with a sickening thud.  She ran to him and knelt down beside his unconscious form.  “Chad!  Chad, wake up,” she begged, hysterically.

        Chad’s eyes popped open, empty and completely black.  Renee gasped and fell backward, scrambling to put some distance between her and the demon-possessed man.  He laughed maliciously at the terrified woman, as he rose to his feet.  “You humans have always been ruled by your emotions. Anger, ambition, greed, and desperation make you act irrationally.  Tell me, whore, did you really believe that two weak mud-monkeys could hold me within that barrier?  I watched the birth of this world and mourned the day my father breathed life into you ungrateful parasites.”

        The woman clambered to her feet and backed against the wall.  “Let him go, please!  Punish me for killing the girl.  Y-you don’t have to kill us.  You’re free, you can go anywhere, and we could help you, serve you.”

        “Foolish human!”  He drew closer to the terrified woman, closing off any chance of escape.  “I do not need help from the likes of you.”  He pressed his palms against the wall on each side of the shivering woman, and leaned in, whispering in her ear, “Oh, I will punish you, and you will beg for death, long before I grant it to you.”  He pulled back to look at her frightened face.  “Worry not, I will let you watch this man you love so much suffer and die before I end you.”

        She pushed him away and dashed for the door.  With a flick of his wrist, he seized the woman and threw her into the wall.  The air rushed from her lungs, and she fell heavily onto the mat, coughing and gasping for air.  He was on top of her before she could get her breath back, grabbing her by her wrists. He laughed and boasted, “I am really going to enjoy this.  It has been centuries since I have had flesh and bones to work with.  It is much more entertaining to cause pain to a physical body, and so many ways to torture it.”  He pulled her arms above her head.  “You like pain, do you not?  It turns you on when he hurts you.  I wonder, just how much you can take?  Let us find out, shall we?”  He grinned wickedly at the helpless woman.

           “Please, don’t!  No, stop!  NOOOOOOOOOOO!”

        “No, don’t, please!” Shera felt as if her chest would explode from fear, not for herself, but for Han and Peter.

        “Tell me, witch, can you feel his pain?”  At that, Peter balled up his fist, and Han screamed in agony.

        Shera felt his pain and his fear.  She screamed, and something inside her snapped.  A blue-white light exploded from her chest and enveloped the room. This time she could see it and feel it.  The force of the blast knocked Peter backward, and Han fell from the wall.

        This felt very different from what she had experienced at the Milner house.  The light began to swirl and pull back toward her body, and with it, she felt her consciousness being pulled deeper and deeper within herself.  She began to fight it until a gentle female voice filled her being, Don’t fight me.  You will be in a dreamlike state, but you will still be able to hear and see what goes on.  Shera, if you want him to live, you must give me complete control.

        Who are you?

        I am the one the demon spoke of.  You must trust me.

        Shera felt that she was telling the truth, and knew that she had very little choice if she wanted to save Han.  She had seen this woman’s power before and knew that she could fight the dark entity.  She gave in and sank into unconsciousness.

        As the swirling light continued to withdraw back into her, Shera’s body lifted from the bed to hover above it.  She looked as if she were standing on some invisible precipice.  Bright blue wings of flame sprouted forth from her back destroying her shirt.  Her eyes glossed over and became completely white.  She looked down at Peter with a look of profound sadness, and spoke gently, “Abaddon, release the human.”

        Han couldn’t move or speak, as he watched Shera’s transformation.  He sat stunned on the floor, as she raised her hand at what used to be Peter.  Peter’s body slowly lifted from the floor, and he let out an angry snarl.  “You dare to command me, Muriel?  Have you forgotten who imprisoned you within that human body?”

        “I have not forgotten, my love.  I remember all the wrong you did to me, and my anger burns deeply.  You will release that human, or I will drag you out and destroy you.”

        Peter laughed, “You could not destroy me, then, you will not destroy me, now.”

        “You underestimate my anger.”  Shera lifted her free hand parallel to the other and began to pull back slowly.  A dual scream issued forth from Peter.

        “Fool, you will kill this mud-monkey you are trying to save.”

        “That man would rather die than have that evil within him—the same evil that took his sister.”

        Peter snarled at Shera.  “I will kill you for this, Muriel!”

        “You could not kill me, then, you will not kill me, now.”

        Peter’s body lurched, and he screamed, then fell unconscious.  She lowered her arms, and with them, Peter floated down to the floor. Shera looked at Han, and said, “He has retreated for now.  Your friend will be fine, and I will return to my sleep until I am needed again.”  She closed her eyes, and the blue-white light began to dissipate.  Shera’s body drifted down to the bed.