Ch. 78: Real Nightmare

CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT:
Evan~
“Ev!” Nick yelled from around the corner. We were in the gym keeping an eye on Jake, pretending to be doing our own training.
I pulled my focus away from the dark-eyed beast who was currently punching a hole through the wall and over to Nick.
He showed me his phone, it was a message from Elise, the tracker from Dark Mountains. At first I expected to possibly read an inappropriately flirty text but I caught the word ‘Jake’ and focused.
<< From Elise to Nick: I’ve got something. Have Jake call me. I found a coven willing to talk with me, we tracked them to a rough area, waiting for a more precise location. >>
“Holy-” I started to say.
“Jake! We’ve got a lead!” Nick bounded over to Jake who had now pounded a Kool-Aid Guy-sized hole in the wall.
Nick better remember to call someone about that. I know I’ll forget.
Jake threw something into the earth outside and I swear I felt the ground shake for a second as I made my way over.
A few moments later we had Elise on speaker phone. She explained the area was really broad but the coven was able to confirm they were still alive. Apparently there were all kinds of wards this coven was finding in that area, likely put up by the black-magic-using coven, and they were looking for ways around it. Elise also passed a message of warning to us from their leader about how dangerous these groups can be.
None of it changed the look of determination on Jake’s face.
“This coven I found, their work comes at a price. They haven’t named it yet. I knew you wanted answers, and I’m willing to pay whatever - I assume you are too,” Elise warned us.
“Yes, of course,” Jake grunted out, his eyes flickering between his usual brown and the black-and-gold eyes.
“They’re not bad people, the Marvis Coven. I don’t expect it to be anything crazy…” she added, almost more like she was reassuring herself than us. “I think it would be a good idea for your warriors or whoever you want to send to start heading this way. I’ve got some wolves with me but we could use the numbers. The contact with the fae would be good to loop in too. Nick, you got that?”
“Got it,” he said, nodding. I could see his wheels already spinning, his plans coming together of all his ‘to-do’s’.
“Before I let you go, I do need to let you know these folks, they have family they believe are part of this dark coven. They want them out but safely. I assume as we get deeper into this our alliance might not be so strong. More reason to bring more of our own and get those hoity-toity high fae involved. They love taking these groups down and looking smarter than anyone… Alright, it looks like I’m expected back inside. I’ll let you know the second we get anything more detailed,” Elise broke her train of thought for a second before continuing, “Good luck to us all, and may the Goddess be on our side.”
“She is,” Jake said definitively.
She is, Xavier echoed in my mind.
I hope they are both right.

Rachel~
He couldn’t be here. He couldn’t.
A moment of shock hit me and he smiled, hand still clutching my wrist.
Suddenly it felt like time unfroze and I was faced with the reality of this absolute evil creep here, at my home, touching me, in the dark. I ripped my hand away and was a little surprised with how I was able to do so so fast. We were far into the garage, I needed to get out on the shared driveway, get some help.
“I won’t let you hide from me so easily!” Vance hissed and walked toward me.
I let my anger loose and while my aim wasn’t perfect, I punched him clear across the face. It felt amazing to see him bend over and hold his cheek.
“Dan you! This isn’t funny anymore!” he charged at me again.
I swung again but missed, and he grabbed my forearm.
I tried pulling it out of his horrible slimy grip but it wasn’t as easy this time.
“Get! The! Fck! OUT!” I yelled each word as I continued to yank myself away.
But he wouldn’t loosen. I was incredibly angry and disorganized, but I knew I had to hurt him - had to get away from him. Before I knew it I was biting his hand. Fiercely, down to the bones and sinew.
“Ow- what the fck?!” he let go and pulled his hand back.
I stumbled further into the garage and spotted my sister’s old softball bat. I sprinted for it and whirled around mid-hit when he blocked me, his arm straight up. It still hurt him but didn’t nearly have the damaging effect I was going for. I glanced down and saw his stance was apart and swung my foot up, kicking him in the crotch.
He kneeled over, grunting in pain and I hit him again, this time square on the head with the bat before booking it towards the garage door. I was nearly out when he pulled me by my shirt and I fell backwards on my bottom. The cold concrete of the garage floor slammed into some bone and my body vibrated. It hurt so much but I sucked air in through my teeth, in survival mode now, needing to focus.
I felt a memory near my mind, something about hitting something hard and the vibrations all through my body. Someone kind helped me up.
My distracted mind was what he needed to get me cornered again. He stalked toward me and basically body-slammed me. Laying me down flat, his hands feeling me in ways that made me want to vomit. I spit in his face and as he wiped it off I took the second to punch him across the face again. I rolled out and had a foot on the ground before he yanked me back.
“Help?!” I started yelling. “Fire!! Fire!!”
I remembered taking a defense class in PE in middle school and we were told to yell ‘Fire!’ because people don’t always go out and look when they hear ‘help.’
Vance punched me. I felt pain and was sure I busted my lip. I was frantic and head-butted him on the nose. It seemed to do the trick.
“Fire! Fire!” I continued yelling.
Why was no one coming? I dizzily stumbled toward the garage door and made it to the apartment building’s driveway, yelling ‘fire’ all the way.
But no one was coming.
A chill went down my spine.
Vance’s hand grabbed me by the shoulder and he whirled me around.
“No one can hear you,” he smiled greedily.
My mind raced. Why? How could every one of my crazy nosy neighbors not hear me?
I pulled out of his grasp again, elbowing him. I continued to yell and smack into cars hoping the alarms would go off. But nothing happened. No lights came on, no one poked their heads out. I glanced up to see our apartment, all the lights were out. But there’s no way my mom would have gone to bed with me still outside.
Vance stalked forward.
I noticed I couldn’t hear his footsteps. I actually couldn’t hear anything. Not the cars down below on the highway, not the owls in the trees, not the wind moving things along. It was silent.
“Are you understanding it now?” he asked me, a cocky smile on his greasy face.
I didn’t respond. I wasn’t understanding. What was this?
It didn’t feel - real.
Magical creatures. Warlocks. Was he a warlock of some kind?
Vance stopped a foot away from me and my back hit a parked car.
“Oh, I see you have something, hmm? A guess?” he asked, a predatory grin on.
Goosebumps should’ve been on my arms. It should be cold out. His nose should be bloody or deformed or something. But it wasn’t.
“Magic?” I asked, trying to figure this out.
“Yes - and no,” he replied.
He stepped closer and I shoved him backwards before backing away again.
“I don’t care! Stop whatever this is. We’re not a thing! We never were, and we never will be!” I screamed at him.
It didn’t seem to phase him. He just picked up where he left off, coming towards me again.
Think, Rachel, think.
“Sean will kill you, you know,” that seemed to give him a flicker of pause. I continued, “I’m sure you’d get in trouble for harassing the soulmate of a warlock.”
I stood my ground, looking up at him defiantly.
He looked at me in question before saying, “So you do know about us.”
He laughed. “But you’re no soulmate for some warlock. You’re mine. You’re my soulmate. I can feel it. Quit kidding around.”
He stopped, a dark look coming over his face.
“I like games as much as the next Succubus, Rachel,” he said exasperated. “But this has gone on for far too long.”
The anger in his eyes seemed to glow and then his eyes shifted.
The burned a fierce red and he seemed to ripple under his skin.
“I WILL claim you now. No more games,” he said, his voice booming, laced with a deeper huskier voice.
Suddenly there was a chair smacking into my legs and I was seated. The chair flew towards him and I went to get up only to find restraints on my wrists.
Panic shot up in me and he leaned forward, inhaling deeply.
Succubus. I felt like I knew that idea. Some tv show I used to watch with my mom. They were demons, sexual ones. They fed on sex and sex dreams or something?
His forked tongue flickered out and he licked just below my ear. The sight and contact made me squirm. This couldn’t be it.
Dream. I glanced around all these things, and remembered the magically appearing chair. The weird silence. The way I was in front of my garage one second, and the next we were deep inside further toward the storage area. This is a dream.
The world rippled around me and Vance hissed.
“Stop it,” he seethed, going back to lick my neck.
I was doing something. What? I didn’t know. I was thinking about how this was a dream. Dream, dream, dream. Or nightmare, really.
The world around me changed, became blurry.
This is a nightmare. I repeated the thought over and over and over. The realization seemed to make this place lose its power. I was still in my garage. This was a nightmare. A crazy vivid one, but still, a nightmare.
It all went dark, and then I noticed how cold my body was.
And the clammy hand on me.
I sat straight up, inhaling from fear, and there he was. Vance. With his hand on my wrist. We were laying on the floor of my garage. I heard a siren sounding from below, probably from the highway.
I was awake!
“How did you do that?!” he dug his fingers into me and I pulled away from him.
I ran out to the driveway and felt the cold, the wind, and heard the sounds.
He chased me out and tried reaching for me again when I got angry.
I can’t explain why, but instead of screaming, I knew what I had to do.
I grabbed his shoulder with as strong a grip as I could muster and I felt my anger pour through me. A cloud shifted and the moonlight brightened the driveway.
Vance shuddered and looked dizzy, he began to fall down. But I still held tight to him. I was seething. This creep dare harass me? Touch me? Stalk me at my own home?
He made some gurgling noise and I noticed his skin began to pale. He looked like the Tim Burton version of himself, which was really saying something since he looked like a creep even before this. Finally I let go, pushing him in one final blow. He fell on his back and I heard the air escape from his lungs. My hand glowed. It glowed. It was an off-white shade. Like the natural lighting all around me. I breathed in and felt vindicated, powerful.
I leaned down and hissed, “This is what happens when you f*ck with me. Now stay the he*l away, or next time I’ll keep going!”
I had no clue what I had done or how. My best guess - I was able to hurt him somehow. It didn’t matter.
He nodded and shaking like a scared kid in a haunted house, he walked off down the road.
I continued to look at my hands, and wondered what else I was capable of.