Chapter 53- Whispers In The Wind

Crystal's stomach began to churn with panic like a swarm of spark plugs. Demons have a connection to seer. Condemned to follow their orders. If they didn't murder themselves or trick someone else into doing something wicked, they were doomed. A ruse to take their position was always on their mind.
"It's all right. This seer Aura owes me a favor. She may be able to shed some light on what exactly is going on. Not only with Drake, but also with our parent's intentions," Levi's comments did nothing to alleviate the anxiety she was experiencing. It didn't matter if she owed him a favor or not. Seers would go to whatever length to obtain what they desired, and they would not be an exception to this rule.
They arrived in the city about an hour later. Levi placed his car in a multistory parking garage with a panoramic view of the city. Without the cyclone of nervousness and fear swirling about inside her, she would have thought the scene was absolutely stunning. Instead, she had to take deep breaths in order to keep her racing heart from bursting out of her rib cage.
With shaky legs she exited the car. Levi took her hand in his, threading his fingers through hers.
“Don’t worry,” he said.
“Easy for you to say. Where about to go see a seer, at what cost?”
He gave her hand a gentle squeeze ignoring her last comment and then led her out of the car park and onto the crowded streets.
She felt jealous at the people going about their daily business. How different their life was to hers? They had no worries of the supernatural world that was hidden from them in plain sight. Even when they did see something out of the ordinary their brain came up with logic explanations.
They arrived at a desolate section of the city. Homeless people passed them by like shadows, their thin complexion and piercing eyes eliciting a pity response from her.
A man sat on the stairs of an abandoned business. The only thing holding on to its sign was filth and mold. If it weren't for the freckles on his face, he would have been completely white. His skin was brown, with only a few little splotches of white here and there. His filthy clothes and scorching red hair only served to accentuate the heinous appearance.
It was his long, slim finger that pointed in the direction of the two of them. "Cry...st...al," he said in hushed tones, and her heart stopped. His voice had a devilish quality to it.
“What did you say?” Levi demanded taking long strides towards the man.
“She belongs to someone else,” the man said in the same demonic voice.
“Run, Run, run!” he screamed at them his eyes rolling with only the whites remaining. Crystal grabbed Levi’s arm and pulled him away from the man. When she looked back, he was staring after them.
“That was.” she couldn’t finish the sentence with the knots in her stomach.
“A mental homeless man,” Levi added lacing his hands with hers again. She could feel the tension in his body which only added to her own.
They stopped outside a building. The only one on the street that looked alive. Outside chimes dangled in front of the doorway.
Levi knocked on the door once. There was a resounding silence. Levi turned to face the freckled homeless man who was hurling rocks at them, and he flashed him his yellow eyes as he did so.
Crystal took the gargoyle door knocker in her hand and let it fall to the floor behind her. A loud, vibrating knock resounded all around them, startling them. She picked up the brass knocker once more, just wanting to get it over with and get rid of the unpleasant terror she had been experiencing.
“NOOO!” Levi screamed as she yanked the doorknob open. The door swung wide as if blown open by the wind.
Levi snatched her shoulders from beneath her. He had a look of pure terror in his eyes.
"Knock once, and the demon and its servant will appear." "Knock twice, and the devil will rise," he said, and Crystal shuddered at the thought of it.
"Come on," he urged, his face softening but the terror still visible in his eyes as he uttered it.
As soon as they crossed the threshold of the structure, the bitter cold air sucked all of Crystal's heat from her body. Her breath rose in puffs, and her arms curled themselves around her torso in a protective embrace.
As their footsteps resonated over the wooden floor, Crystal felt shivers run down her spine as she contemplated the uncanny stillness of the place. Despite the fact that the building's exterior showed that it was still alive. It appeared to be completely deserted on the inside. To put it mildly, it was a total and utter disaster. The paint on the walls, which had formerly been cream in color, was now yellow and flaking, with enormous holes and fissures in the surface. The furniture was arranged in a random manner, as if the place had been plundered a long time ago.
Levi led them into another room which was pitch black. She couldn’t see a thing and clung to Levi’s arm as if her life depended on it. He legs moved on their own to make their way back out of the shop of horrors when something caught her eye.
A chalk drawn, symbol on the floor glowed red, a triangle with an eye in the middle. Crystal knew that symbol. She had seen it when she was in one of her coven classes. Wracking her brain, she tried hard to dig for who the symbol belonged too.
Then the image in the demonology book came to the forefront of her mind.
Teke Teke. She was a young girl who had died on train tracks. However, she wasn’t an ordinary young girl but rather half demon half angel. The cause of how she got on the railway tracks was unknown. But it was believed it was by something sinister as she came back for revenge in full demon form.
It was said that she crawled around looking for people to share her fate. She cut them in half with a scythe.
The legend didn’t say much about the young demon. Yet Crystal knew from experience the younger ones had more of an imagination and she guessed that wasn’t good when it came to a child demon.
A red-haired middle-aged woman appeared in the center of the symbol.
Her eyes were nothing, but black orbs and Crystal had to look away, afraid she would be sucked into the back void.
“Levi Carmichael, what is it that you seek,” her voice was slow and toneless.
“I seek answers,” he replied.
“Then you are already aware that what you seek may not be to your liking,”
“Yes,” he replied again.
“Very well. Ask me what you wish,”
“How do we destroy the vortex to Athens? Why has Drake returned? How do I protect Crystal?”
“Three questions and only one favor. You may pick one vital question, or you may pay a price for all of them,” her eyes glowed with hope and Crystal gulped. She was about to say one when Levi bet her too it.
“All three and I will pay the price,” her head spun, and her legs became weak.
“Very well,”
The woman’s head slowly turned towards Crystal in an unnatural way.
“To destroy the vortex, you must find the key and destroy that. Drake wants what he has been promised and he will not stop until he gets just that. As for Crystal. You cannot save her. She has been marked and darkness is all around her,”
The woman began to fade. “I will be in touch for payment,”
“Wait!” Levi demanded.
“Who as marked her?”
“Are you willing to pay the price?” she asked with a wicked smile.
“Yes,” he replied with determination and Crystal’s breathe caught in her throat.
“She knocked twice. Now she will come. No matter where she goes. She cannot hide from my master,” The woman disappeared, and the room returned to pitch darkness.