Page 13 of Dark Rapture
“Alright, dude. Fuck off, will you?” she barks, clearly angry now. I knew her nerves were likely equally frayed today, but I wasn’t expecting her to snap at him like that. Arianna isn’t the type to swear at anyone, let alone tell them to fuck off. Ari is a gentle soul, and happens to be very slow to anger.
The stranger still says nothing, and when I finally pull my gaze away from him I notice Arianna fishing for her phone out of her oversized purse. “Alright, then, I’m calling the cops.”
I shift my empty mug away from the edge of the table and turn to stand up, but I fall back into my seat because the man is now towering over me with one hand on the corner of the table, preventing me from leaving.
“He can save you,” he says simply, his voice eerily monotone, his pupils dilating as he speaks. I shudder as goosebumps erupt all over my body. His voice sounds off, I can’t shake the weirdness of this encounter. Normal people don’t act like this, speaking without inflection.
“Oh, hell no,” Arianna groans. “We are not interested in learning about your lord and savior today, dude.” With that, she stands up and forces herself between me and the unknown man. He stumbles back but quickly regains his footing and resumes standing there like a human statue.
Arianna grabs my hand and helps me to my feet, wrapping her arm around the back of my body to usher me towards the door. He speaks again, in that same monotone voice.
“You just have to let him in.”
I glance back at him, just in time to see him turn his body to face us as we exit.
He’s smiling. The most terrifying smile I think I’ve ever seen.
His eyes are still empty and his face is an expressionless mask, except for his mouth. It looks so unnatural that I can’t help but shudder, knowing my own face is easily displaying how uncomfortable and unnerved I am.
His freakish smile is stretched so wide you can see almost every single lightly yellowed tooth. Even his gums are visible, because the strain of exerting such a huge smile pulls the muscles around his mouth so taut that it looks painful.
I can even see several thin lines of crimson appear as his lips crack from the effort, drawing a tiny amount of blood to the surface of his dry mouth.
It scares the shit out of me. My heart is pounding wildly as Arianna guides me through the door and onto the street. “Do you need me to call you a cab? That guy is a weirdo.”
“No. I’m only two blocks away from home,” I tell her, still so shaken by the encounter that I likely seem like I’m wandering out into the sidewalk in a haze.
Glancing back through the storefront window, the strange man is now gone. I’m not sure if his sudden disappearance makes me feel better or worse.
Arianna hails a cab for herself, and I glance around the street, looking for the man in the crowds of people walking around us. That is when I notice the ravens.
So many ravens, hanging around the trees and buildings, quietly watching.
“Fuck,” I mutter, as the cab pulls up for Arianna.
“What is it?” she asks, turning away from the curb to regard me carefully.
“Nothing, Ari. Go on home, I’ll text you in 10 minutes to let you know I got home safe.” She nods, and I give her a quick hug. The embrace is warm and feels so comforting, I almost don’t want to let go.
“Please be safe. Love you, girl,” she says as she opens the cab door and gets inside. I offer her a wave of my hand, then head off in the direction of home. The ravens seem to follow me, flitting from one tree to the next, almost as though they are escorting me.
I don’t know what to think or feel. All of these weird things started happening after I cast my protection spell, after I used the candle with the unknown sigil. A symbol I carved into the wax with my own hand. I thought the sigil was for protection, but maybe I was wrong.
I can still see the intricate design in my mind’s eye. The symbol, like an ancient rune, is burned into my brain. I don’t think I could forget it even if I made a serious effort to.
I keep my eyes on the ravens until I reach my front door, not wasting any time as I unlock it, step inside, and bolt the lock behind me.
Turning my back to the outside world, I lean against the door and close my eyes. With a deep, cleansing sigh, I try my hardest to clear my mind and organize my thoughts.
Short of going back to Rome and talking to the shop owner, which isn’t a viable option right now, I don’t know how to investigate the symbol I found in that old book. I want to understand what is happening here, but I don’t know where to start. It’s not like I can plug the unique marking into a google search. Even if I drew it on a piece of paper, scanned it into my laptop, and used reverse image searching technology, what are the chances that this archaic rune would be found anywhere online?
Another deep sigh, this one out of frustration, pushes past my lips. I open my eyes and head for the kitchen, intent on making a cup of tea and reading the one book in my collection that mentions demonology.
As I wait for the machine to brew my green tea, I head over to the narrow, black bookshelf in my living room and pull free a heavy textbook calledGods, Demons, and Familiars.
“I have a few things to work with,” I think aloud, heading back for my tea. “He said he is a Prince of Hell, a teacher, a protector. There are ravens everywhere. Then there’s that owl I saw at my parents house…” my words trail off as I stare out into the garden through the window over my sink, my tea mug secured in one hand with the book tucked up under my armpit.
The deadly nightshade has doubled in size. Overnight.
