Page 32 of Dark Rapture
“When the blood moon rises, you will find me at the House of God,” his voice is discordant and disembodied. “Sacrilege beneath the dead God’s sightless eye. Your soul will be mine until eternity’s end.”
With that, the shadows dissipate and he sinks down through the floorboards. Gone, as quickly as he came, leaving me alone in the dark with so many questions, and yet I am stunned into absolute silence.
Oh, how my world has changed so completely. I went from knowing very little of the paranormal, to feeling a powerful connection with a Great Prince of Hell and dealing with demons almost daily.
I remind myself once more, that things will never be the same. Once the veil is lifted, it cannot be put back in place.
Chapter Ten
Thesettingsunisupon me, the intense colours of dusk casting my bathroom in shades of orange, purple and pink. I stare at my reflection in the mirror, regarding the way the long brown strands of hair frame my face. I look normal, for the most part. Just your average brown haired girl, nothing unique or special about me. At least, that is what I would have said a few weeks ago.
Now, as my hands lift to pull my hair back away from my face, I am captivated by my own eyes. Once brown and ordinary, now they are anything but that. My pupils are devoid of any light, deep and cavernous like the Mariana trench. The thin rings of ethereal gold that surrounded my pupils just a few days ago have taken over my eyes, tendrils of shimmering fire reaching out from the rings and devouring the brown I was born with.
My eyes are otherworldly, now. Windows down into the archaic flame burning at the roots of my spirit. The resplendent golden glow ensuring that for the rest of my life, people will assume I am wearing contacts. Perhaps with time I can learn how to project a different image, like Daemon does, and conceal what I really am from everyone else.
With a deep breath, I exit my bathroom. Night is falling, and the moon is rising high up in the sky. Once the last rays of sunlight disappear beneath the horizon, the moon will wear a rustic, shadowy hue. The blood moon.
I’ll be at the holy altar then, ready to complete my bond with the Great Prince of Hell.
I don’t know exactly what will happen during this ritual, but I know that Daemon will guide the way.
When I step back into my bedroom to get dressed out of the robe I put on following my long after work shower, I am shocked to see black fabric sprawled across the foot of my bed.
It wasn’t there 10 minutes ago.
I walk over and touch the incredibly soft silk, lifting the dress up to preview it. It is a floor length, form fitting gown. There is a long slit up the front of the left side, and a plunging neckline. It is simple, but beautiful, with an intricate sigil in delicate gold thread weaved into the fabric beneath the point of the plunging neckline.
The sigil is from the old book in Rome, the one I carved into my protection candle.
This must be his sigil. I don’t know why this only occurred to me now. I drop one hand to trail my fingertips over it, the dress shifting as it now spills down from my one hand as I hold it up to gaze at.
I set it back down on my bed so that I can slip off the thin black robe, allowing it to drop from my shoulders and pool at my feet. Standing naked in my bedroom, my attention is pulled towards the window as the ravens that have been surrounding me all day begin to caw loudly.
I know now that these large black birds are the manifestation of demons, some of the members of the first of the twenty-six legions under Daemon’s rule.
They are of his oldest, most loyal soldiers.
Little bits of insight have been coming to me since Daemon’s power first touched my soul, and left a mark. Things I just know, without understanding exactly how. One of those gifts of knowledge led me to the understanding that his gift of insight will be mine once we are bonded.
Reaching down, I grab the dress and slip it on over my head. It is the perfect fit, of course. It hugs my waist, flaring out at my hips and flowing around me beautifully. I’ve never been the most beautiful woman in a room, or the type of girl men go crazy over. However, Daemon has made me feel like I am the most beautiful star in the vast expanse of space. Endless galaxies, a billion beautiful cosmic events, and an infinity of time, yet I am the most beautiful thing he has ever known.
I feel it coming, another burst of knowledge that comes to me easily.
“Within you is the provenance of magic, as old as the universe itself.”
His voice echoes in my head, this time it is not distorted. It may not be human, but I understand every word in its entirety.
I smile, feeling the ancient flames at the foundation of my being. Once upon a time, I woke up as a normal person playing with witchcraft in her closet. Tonight, I transcend my own humanity and fully awaken as the witch I was always meant to become.
There are demonic entities outside of my house, they’ve been spiraling around me like vultures. I move to stand in front of my bedroom window, my eyes lifting first to regard the sunset’s beautiful display, before I gaze off into the distance and see a few bodies scattered around the city that surrounds my home.
Possessed people, standing as still as the dead and watching me with hungry eyes. These demons do not belong to my Prince of Hell. They belong to others, others that feel called to my awakening power, desperate to take it for themselves so that they can transcend, too.
Daemon, or whatever his true name actually is, must be a formidable force of Hell. None of the possessed men and women that have been following me around have gotten too close. They maintain a respectful distance, the ravens become increasingly aggressive if they wander too near to me.
On my walk to work this morning, people kept stopping to marvel at the black birds as they flew around me, escorting me through the city. A couple of people even pulled out their phones to capture the unnatural event, in awe of the birds’ strange behaviour.
It doesn’t bother me. Not anymore. With knowledge comes confidence in the things that once scared me only nights ago. I know now that if any demon tries to harm me, Daemon will come roaring out of the depths of Hell to destroy them.
