Adventures in NaNoWriMo 2014 (Day 8)

Topics: |   Update   |  Current Word Count  |  Scene of the Day   |
Update
I got roughly half of the second short written today, between binge-watching all the Marvel movies I've missed over the past several years. It's been a pretty fun day. The second short, Blood and Shadow, is a more straight-forward story dealing with Morgana Lugus fighting a powerful demon for a kidnapped child's return. It's more action-packed, and generally shorter, than Fata Morgana was.

Current Word Count: 12,473


Scene of the Day

A series of three slow, timid knocks rang through my office to signal the start of my next case.

With a sigh, I slipped the book I’d been immersed in into my desk and straightened out.

An unusual tension ran through me as I sat fully in my chair, though I quickly forced it away.

“Come in,” I called.

As the door opened, a pale ghost of a woman was slowly revealed.

Her entire body was a bundle of tension and fear while she slipped inside, and her eyes were constantly on the move.

Her standing stock-still just inside my office gave me time to really inspect her.

Without the pallor, she probably had lightly tanned skin.

Her eyes, when they were still enough for me to see, were a nearly luminescent ice-blue.

Dark waves of auburn hair rode from the crown of her head to just below her shoulders, streaks of scarlet dyed in occasionally.

I got the impression as she started squirming and looking at the door that she would turn and run screaming if she saw so much as a shadow.

“Can I… help you?”

She literally jumped at my voice, her gaze jerking to focus on me in a wide-eyed, shocked stare.

“A-a-are y-yo-you Morg-Morgan-Morgana-”

“My name’s Morgana Lugus,” I quickly interrupted, taking pity on the stuttering bundle of nerves standing in my office.

I let myself slouch slightly, hoping to placate some of the frightened deer look she was giving me.

“Can I ask who you are?”

She returned to nervously looking around, and it was then that I became fully aware of the energy running off her in waves.

It was a miasma of fear and negativity, so strong it made me twitchy, too.

I found myself resisting the urge to grab a weapon and look around for whatever she thought might be with us in the room.

Sighing, I snapped my fingers.

She jumped again, bringing her focus back to me.

Her surprise broke the concentrated psychic poison, the air briefly clearing and giving me a fresh breath.

“There’s a ward around this building, miss. Whatever’s after you, it can’t get in here,” I swore.

At that, her eyes narrowed in suspicion, which made me all the more curious on what my day was about to become.

“Why don’t we start with yer name, and go from there?” I asked.

With a gentle wave, I gestured to one of the chairs opposite my desk.

“Please, have a seat.”

Still staring at me, as though worried I’d leap over the mahogany and bite off her head, she moved into the seat.

Even when she was settled, she was shaking like a leaf and looking like she was about to explode at any second.

“M-my n-n-name is… My name’s Angel… Angelica O’Brian,” she managed.

“Alright, Angel. What’s happening?” I asked, letting myself relax more into my chair.

“This man… he called himself Tenshi… He told me to come talk to you,” she said, her nerves seeming to finally quiet, now that we were talking.

“Ten sent you?”

The intrigue grew.

I had no idea who “Tenshi” actually was, but he’d proven to be a useful associate from somewhere in the Lower Realms.

He’d been useful in a decent chunk of my cases dealing with the monsters that crept through shadows.

If he’d sent that woman to me, something was definitely worth paying attention to.

“Alright. Talk to me.”

“A-are you r-really a… I’ve heard stories that you’re a woman with… that you’re a-”

“If the word you’re looking for is witch, I’m that, yes, among other things,” I cut in. “Also a certified private investigator.”

“It’s just, you know… I don’t even know why I came here. But he said you handle things like this all the time, but… Well, I guess if that is real, witches aren’t really that crazy, but still-”

“I promise that whatever your problem is, chances are good it won’t be something new to me. So I want you to take a deep, calming breath, first, Angel.”

She did, her tremors becoming slightly less violent.

“Alright. Now tell me what’s happened.”

Her eyes slipped closed, and a heavy sigh escaped her.

As her breath slipped out, the air became even less toxic, and she slumped into her seat.

“My daughter was kidnapped. By a man who I think is a demon,” she started tentatively.

“Okay. Is there any reason you think he’s a demon?”

Thankfully, she didn’t become defensive.

Apparently, my tone had conveyed clearly that it wasn’t disbelief in demons that made me ask.

Living part-time in Arkham, Massachusetts for most of my life, as well as what I did as a profession, made outright disbelief impossible.

Especially given how many of the literal damned I’d personally pissed off.

That didn’t, however, mean what she was dealing with was automatically a demon.

Only the rest of her story would let me know if it was really a monster at all, to begin with, and if so, what kind.

Going in prepared to face a demon and finding myself against an Unseelie faery or a vampire would be a good way to get killed, fast.

“I… I promised...”

She cut herself off to take another breath, but it did nothing to take the anguish off her face.

“I promised her to that… that monster!” she sobbed. “I didn’t think… I mean, who would actually believe… but… but now-”

“Calm down,” I soothed.

Helping her along, I released a small burst of relaxing energy, the air becoming lightly scented like wildflowers as she took a shuddering breath.

Somehow, her broken fragment of a thought had already put my nerves on edge.

“Slow down, breathe, and start from the beginning.”

“Okay,” she sighed. “Fifteen years ago, my life was going to hell. After years at a security firm, my boss’s kid made a pass at me, and I rejected him on the spot. He fudged numbers, made up rumours, and did all kinds of other sleazy things in retaliation, and I got fired. Without a job, the mooching asshole of a husband ran off. I was at rock bottom, as far as I was concerned.”

I nodded, already pretty sure where this was going.

I was entirely unsurprised to find myself quickly proven right.

“So, one day, I found myself in this little shithole bar downtown, wondering if it’d be quicker to jump off a bridge when we were going through a drought, or to eat a bullet. I decided a gun would be faster, but then, just as I’m leaving-”

“A mysterious, handsome stranger showed up that you couldn’t get your mind off, right?” I guessed, though I needn’t have bothered, really.

“Sort of. He wasn’t so much handsome as… it’s kind of hard to describe. He had the looks of someone who belonged in that kind of bar even less than me. This guy just walked right up to me as I’m getting up, and he tells me…”

She gave a low, bitter laugh, and her eyes fell down to the floor.

“He tells me that, if I’m going to drown in a fiery lake, I should at least party a little first. So, obviously, I thought he was a nut job. Then, he pulls a piece of old, crumbling paper out of thin air. Told me it was a superior contract, whatever the hell that meant. Said I’ll get fifteen years of solid good luck, and all I have to do is give him my firstborn in return.”

“I can guess the rest,” I groaned.

“I was drunk,” she continued, trying to justify selling a person’s soul.

Not that I could blame her, really.

“And I was never planning on having a kid,” she continued. “My doctor told me I was totally infertile. No chance of conceiving. I… I didn’t know-”

“Obviously, something changed. Those contracts can do a lot, to make sure they get paid.”

“I signed the stupid paper. It slipped my mind, and I forgot it soon enough. Things didn’t get better too fast, and I went right back to where I’d been that night. Except something changed. There was always something stopping me from getting out. The gun jammed, the pills fell into the sink… after a week, I got a call.”

Her hand jerked through her hair in some form of tic, her shaking making a quick return.

Tears were starting to build, but she didn’t look quite on the verge of crying, just yet, but she was getting there.

“My boss’s son was charged for sexual harassment and assault of some interns. All the people filing for my old job at the same time were totally incompetent. I got my job back in a hurry, and I threw myself into the work. It caught the company president’s attention, and I started moving up the corporate ladder.”

“Everything you could’ve bargained for,” I quipped, wincing at how harsh it sounded as soon as I’d said it.

She seemed oblivious, caught up in her story.

“I was at the headquarters for a meeting when I first met the president’s son. He was everything I’d ever dreamed of for boyfriend material. We got serious, quick-”

“Then you got pregnant.”

“We got married, and then I had Catherine. It all came rushing back. I was so scared, because she reminded me of that deal. And… and now…”

“Now it’s fifteen years later, and your daughter went missing.”

“R-right… H-h-her birthday was last week, almost to the day that I signed that fucking paper.”

“Tell me about her. Any little details. Is there any specific sign that makes you think it was this guy, this demon, that took her, and not someone or thing else?”

At this point, I’d accepted that I would likely be stinking like sulfur before the night was over.

Demons were the only creatures that worked in the soul-trade business, which was why many of them were so good at working small miracles to get them paid.

“She’s such a wonderful girl. Like I said, I never expected to have children, but I was so glad I had her. Am glad,” she quickly corrected in horror. “She’s got the usual teenage rebellion, but even then, she’s a really good kid. Nothing to suggest she ran away, or that it was just some normal person that took her.”

With a half-sob, she started rummaging through her purse.

“A-and I… I got this, three days ago. It didn’t make any sense, until I found out she didn’t make it to school the same day. I was on my way to the APD when I met that Tenshi guy.”

She finally found something, and she gave a wheeze of breath as she pulled the small note free.

The first thing I noticed was the seven-pointed, red star wrapped in a black circle on the top of the page.

As soon as I touched the paper, dark energy sparked to life, trying to slip its way into my consciousness.

Angel seemed oblivious to the slight green glow around my hand, which snuffed the flames out.

Suddenly, her nervousness didn’t seem quite so surprising.

The sender had slipped his own aura, and all the black magic it was made of, into the note.

Being in such close proximity to the thing without even knowing what kind of toxicity it had for the psyche, would turn even the calmest people insane after a while.

If that wasn’t enough, the contents of the message itself wasn’t much better.

Dear Angel,

The contract’s been paid in full. Have a good life with what you’ve reaped.

-Therion

“Shite,” I grumbled.

With that name attached, I was guaranteed to have a job that was going to be even less pleasant than the usual knock-down, drag-out fights against the things that go bump in the night…

The wind pulled at my nape like fingers of pure ice, completely destroying the sweltering heat everywhere else.

In my line of work, you don’t live long if you don’t keep tabs on the newest rumours.

Lately, Therion was the rumours.

None of what I’d heard was good news, especially since it would be my first time going against him.

He was from the Higher Order of Hell’s host, and fit the image of a stereotypical demon to a tee.

Whereas most demons in the 21^st century had come to prefer doing things the new and improved way of just driving people to drink themselves to death, he didn’t.

Therion clung to the older traditions of making deals, apparently feeling like working the horribly underpaid servers of the damned in return for a few high-quality souls was more fun.

In particular, he had a penchant for the souls of miracle children.

While I wasn’t exactly doing it pro bono, considering the funds that Angel had at her disposal, she was still paying me far less than my usual rates.

Decommissioning Therion would be my pleasure.

With a sigh, I stepped into the warehouse.

The second I passed the threshold, the chill increased tenfold.

I moved quickly, bringing all the tools I’d grabbed from a nearby war chest onto a raised slab of concrete.

I hated Arkham’s docks.

Being so close to open water, the shore, and the raging power of the Miskatonic itself, always made me feel like I was a few seconds from some disaster dragging me into the depths and all the way back through into the Courts.

The fact that the whole of the docks was owned by one man, who I particularly wanted to avoid getting the attention of, sat even less well with me.

Shaking it off, I laid everything out on the slab, save for my gun.

That, I kept on me, feeling the silver rounds vibrating with their volatile, poisonous magic inherent in the metal.

I didn’t think I would need the weapon, if everything went according to plan, but hey, why take chances with a demon?

I could boast about being able to take Therion until I was blue in the face, but if it came down to an out-and-out fight, there was every chance my power couldn’t outlast his.

The noon’s approach hummed through me, a lazy warmth spreading through my brain and a slight tingling running up my spine.

Pulling open a few of the salt packets lying on the slab, I began my work.

Moving clockwise, I made a massive circle with the salt, leaving a hole just barely big enough for me to fit through.

Normally, I’d be a lot more ritualistic about that kind of thing.

I’d also usually have a team waiting around for containment if things got messy.

But Catherine O’Brian had already been gone for, at the very least, 60 hours.

I was starting out short on time, assuming she hadn’t already been sold to another demon.

If that was the case, I wouldn’t be able to do a whole helluva lot, anyway.

Pushing the thoughts down, I moved back to the slab and picked up a set of five knives, leaving the concrete completely bare.

The iron crackled with power as I moved through the hole, brushing the salt as I went so the circle was unbroken once I was outside of its edge.

The air warmed in an instant and became utterly still.

I took it in with closed eyes, letting the power around me hum through my every synapse until it felt like I was part of a live current.

Letting the deep breath flow out of me, I moved to one corner of the circle, closest to the closed doors.

“Standing above the North, I call upon the all-consuming wisdom of the Undine, spirit of water. Let this circle be connected to the world, taking a small dose of power from thine own life-giving breath!”

With that, I brought the first knife down.

It slid easily into the smooth, wooden floor all the way up to the light, blue gemstone in the blade’s base.

I moved quickly away, the sudden burst of arctic cold making standing there anymore uncomfortable.

Several steps away, I came to a swift stop and lifted another blade.

“In the domain of the West, I call upon the power of the Gnome, earth’s spirit and power given form. Grant me your strength, and hold this circle with the stability of the planet itself!”

The second one slid in with just as little resistance as the first, this one hosting a bright garnet.

The scent of sunflowers and lilacs rose and quickly became cloying.

As I stood there, a strange, sensation filled the whole of my consciousness, making my brain feel like it was made of everything at the same time as it was just a tiny speck in front of something too vast to comprehend.

The noon’s rapid approach wore against me, snapping me from the revelry and sending me to the next spot, directly opposite where I’d been standing.

“I call on the power of the South. Guardian spirit of fire itself, I ask the Djinn heed my call and temper this circle against all that would break it.”

I shoved a knife with a blood-red gem in next, the stone facing water’s own gem.

Sweat rose in a puff against my brow, the air becoming heavy and chokingly damp against me.

Even as the discomfort grew, my lips were in a small smile.

Moving across from the Earth’s pillar, I took a stance with the next-to-last knife poised.

The energy was quickly rising into the warehouse’s atmosphere, crackling powerfully against my awareness.

“Under the domain of the East, I call the vast, infinite energy of the Sylph, guardian of air itself! Come to me, and make this circle every bit as inescapable as your own touch!”
The knife bore down, the yellow circle in the hilt winking as power flared through it.

Noon was less than two minutes away, by that point, and I finally moved to stand right between the blue and red knives.

I brought the last knife up above my head, and felt electricity zinging down my entire body.

“Power of Akasha, that which binds all things in life and otherwise, I ask to borrow a sliver of your power. Bind this circle together! Close the gates, and seal this coming evil within, until I so will it to break. As above, so below, this circle I’ve cast, and now I call on you to make reality’s power itself, into this domain, flow!”

The wood groaned as I slammed the blade down, a large, circular amethyst twinkling in the wood.

Power snapped into place with an audible hum, and all five knives became surrounded in an intense, shimmering glow not unlike intense heat on metal.

From the knives, a band of multi-coloured light emitted.

After several seconds, the lights intensified into a solid-looking barrier of living, pulsing magic.

I was sure that if anyone happened by this place at that moment, they’d either be smart enough to turn the other way, or very curious why someone was throwing a rave in the middle of the day.

Taking several steps back from the circle, I brought my gun out and double-checked it with a quick glance.

The circle was definitely strong and sturdy, but so were demons.

Hopefully, if it didn’t hold him, it would slow him down and wear him down.

Knowing nothing but the rumours, though, made it impossible to really know.

If he was able to comfortably walk around in daylight, as people had said, then he wouldn’t be weak, and he definitely wouldn’t be predictable.

Without knowing how many souls he’d bought to use as familiars, I had absolutely no way of gauging what he could do until he was there.

Noon came, then, and the air became charged even more.

Colors sparked to a rhythm I could only vaguely feel, and the air inside the warehouse turned dark, as though preparing for the corruption that was soon coming.

“In this place and at this hour, I call upon my ancient power. In this time and in this place, the barrier between worlds, I do now temporarily erase! Creature of darkness, bargainer of souls, Trader Therion, you without a choice will heed this call!”

The magic intensified, breaking into the physical plane.

With an echoing crack, the air displaced inside the circle.

And then, I was no longer alone in the warehouse, someone standing within the confines of the salt and magically charged knives.