Ch 16
I awoke in an unfamiliar place. This was seriously starting to become a habit, first the church and now this! Where even am I? I looked around, I appeared to be laying on top of a desk in what appeared to be somebody’s office. I tried to sit up, but my entire body screamed in pain as soon as I started to move so I shelved that for the moment and began trying to remember what had happened.
I remember the priest at my job. Ok, it’s a start, there was a priest that showed up at my job and asked about me. Also, he had gone to my home and left me a letter. That’s right it’s starting to come back to me. After I had gotten home after leaving work early because some priest showed up and started asking for me, I had found a letter from some exorcist who claimed to be willing to help me. Unfortunately, that same man had broken into my apartment and assaulted me shortly after that, catching me off guard with a taser.
After that I had woken up tied to an altar in the church and he had burned me and caused me quite a bit of agony with several different holy relics, each one giving him more joy than the last as he claimed that each one proved without a doubt that I was a demon and undeserving of mercy or divine salvation. It had seemed like he was right about to kill me and then… what had happened? He had suddenly frozen solid and I remember hearing footsteps but that was all before I woke up here.
That answers why my front is covered in painful injuries from top to toe. That still brings me back around to my original question, or should I say two questions because now I had another. Where am I and who saved me?!
I considered trying to make some noise in order to attract some attention to myself and get some answers, but I quickly decided against that. The last time I had woken up it was just to be brutally tortured by a Catholic priest through use of holy relics and Latin. It seemed that this priest, this exorcist could call upon the power of these relics to hurt demons through the use of Latin as he had spoken some before each time the items had begun to hurt him. Maybe he was praying but I did not recognize any of the prayers from my childhood except for the last bit about being in the name of the father and son and holy ghost and all that.
In any event, I would need to steer clear of him in the future, I would like to stay far away from any and all priests for that matter. This last encounter had been too close for comfort. Still, I needed a plan. They knew where I worked and where I lived. I could likely stay with Abbey for a bit but they would likely find her too before long, after all there was a police report that linked us to each other logged in the system and these guys seemed to have some way of finding out one’s personal information. There was no reason to believe that they wouldn’t also show up at her home, and I doubt their position on demon lovers is any better than their position of demons themselves.
Obviously, I needed to leave but where could I go? I would need not only a way out of town that couldn’t be traced but I would also need an entirely new identity when I got there. Abbey should be fine if I am gone, they wouldn’t hurt her for no reason, would they? Ok so new plan, Abbey has to come with me. This exorcist is bad news. Very bad news.
Still, I need someplace to go. I have spent my entire life in this city, I may have moved to the other side of it as soon as I was on my own in order to minimize the chances of seeing my family but it was still the city that I had always known. One might think that I am merely being sentimental over leaving but that isn’t it! Since I have never been anywhere else, I literally have no idea where to go or what to do when I get there. I don’t even have any contacts that could help me get a new identity. Shit. This plan is going nowhere.
While I was lost in thought and deliberating, I heard the doorknob jiggle and snapped myself back to the present. Apprehension filled me as I waited for the door to open. It was moving so very slowly it seemed, or maybe it was just because of the anxiety I was having over who would be on the other side of it. As soon as the door was open all the way a figure walked in that I was all too happy to see.
“Abbey!” I called out, or rather I should say that I tried to because I just now remembered that I had lost several teeth and so it came out a rather garbled “UUBBEE” which caused her to stop in her tracks and look at me in horror. A second later she turned and left, slamming the door behind her in her haste to run away from the gross spectacle that I now realized I must have become. So much for demon of lust, I won’t be seducing anything with all the scars these burns are going to leave.
I was lying there on the desk, my legs dangling over the end, thinking about my future now that I was grotesque, and Abbey had run away at the sight of me when the door opened again. This time it was someone who I did not recognize. She entered the room with a commanding presence and then turned to look at me with a critical eye before she suddenly smiled brightly, and her entire demeanor seemed to change.
“Hello, my name is Michelle Moone and at this moment you are in my office, at the back of my magick shoppe, which I have currently closed to customers so that your friend and I could come to rescue you. She has been so worried about you, but first now that you are awake, I am sure you are in a great deal of pain looking at your injuries. Those bastards at the Catholic church have been prosecuting my people since the sixteenth century and now, even today they think that being a demon makes you fair game.”
I was staring at the self-introduced Michelle Moone with my mouth open which must have been a pretty sight with all the blood and missing teeth, but I couldn’t help it. In just a few moments she had answered my two driving questions and given me so many new ones. Who were her people who had been persecuted since the middle ages? How had she managed to save me? What was her connection to Abbey that she would go so far out of her way on short notice? For that matter how had they realized I needed help and found me?
I had so many questions, but I do not think I am likely to be getting any answers soon. Ms. Moone with her dark green, velvety dress that was cut low to reveal ample cleavage was coming towards me with a clay cup in her hands. I tried to focus on her face, but my attention was starting to swim away from all the pain. Strangely, I kept drifting up to her vibrantly red hair, all that was, except for the single streak of white that I couldn’t help looking at. It was not the off-yellow of hair that had been bleached but the stark white that one sometimes finds on the heads of their senile elders in the retirement homes.
As she approached, she gently held out the cup to me. The smooth skin of her hands a stark contrast against the rough clay of the cup. The liquid inside it was a milky white and seemed to reflect the light strangely. “This is draught of poppy, specially blended to work for demon kind so you needn’t worry about your preternatural metabolism driving it from your system. It will help with the pain, after that we can discuss how to heal your wounds. It would be such a shame for such a handsome Incubus to be disfigured by so many scars.”
She playfully traced a finger down one of my arms as if it wasn’t covered in blackened skin that cracked a bit as she touched it. With her other hand she brought the cup to my lips and gently tilted it back. As the liquid spilled into my mouth, I recall it tasting rather sweet. After which she said, “I brewed that potion myself and it has quite the potent spell on it, soon you should feel no pain at all.”
It was difficult to follow the meaning of her words and at first, I did not understand why I was having to work so hard to understand. Then it hit me, I felt drugged, her voice was already sounding distorted and strange as if coming from a distance. I did not lose consciousness again, but I was now certainly delirious. Did she do this on purpose? I wondered idly from my stupor. Probably not, she probably thought I was a stronger demon than I was and miss judged the dosage is all. “Wheeeeeee! Sitting up is fun!”
Not good. I’m definitely drugged. Feels kind of like drinking too much Benadryl but much more pleasant. Everything feels kind of floaty where it was a mass of pain before. The only problem is this euphoria! Why am I so goddamned giddy?!
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