Ch. 87: It All Went Dark

CHAPTER EIGHTY-SEVEN:
Rachel~
What. A. Day. This was all just so much. My head was starting to pound. Another migraine, great.
I should’ve known when all that was happening with Vance that he was otherworldly, that other beings existed. It’s like this whole time my mind was trying to protect me by keeping these separated in my thoughts, like how people straight-up black out traumatic childhood memories. But I was nearing adulthood, and this was such a stupid thing for my brain to do. Maybe if I had connected it all earlier, I would have been able to protect myself more. Maybe. That question will plague me, I know it.
I was halfway home after leaving Kyle and Ally at the park, they said they were going to take care of something magic related. So I had started walking home. The walk really did help me clear my thoughts.
Something shifted. I stopped, the hair on the back of my neck standing up like I was walking through an electric storm.
“Rachel,” a voice said.
I turned to see Sean, his fists clenched at his sides. I gasped, totally surprised to see him here. How did he know where I was?
“Uh, hey, Sean,” I said, nearly stuttering.
He stood there with his arms still at his sides, his hands opening and closing into fists like he was fighting something. Weighing something.
“Why have you been ignoring me?” he asked, his irritation plain as day.
I stepped back, which seemed to make him frown harder.
“AN-swer me,” he demanded, through clenched teeth.
“I- I’m sorry,” I found myself saying.
He stood there stoic another moment before suddenly stepping forward and grabbing me into a forced hug. He took a deep breath in and I just stayed as still as I could. Something about seeing him this way seemed dangerous.
He pulled apart a moment to look into my face, and he moved a stray hair out of my eyes. The electricity coming from his touch started to feel like too much, it started to hurt. It sparked something in me.
“No,” I said, shoving him off.
His eyes flared and he put a hand back on my shoulder, “Don’t shove me.” His voice reminded me of a snake, the hissed warning laced his words. A threat.
No. I wiggled out of his grasp which only seemed to make him madder.
“I need to touch you. I need my soulmate’s touch. It will calm me down,” he said, his eyes brightening and flickering back to normal.
Well that’s just it.
“I’m not your soulmate, I can’t be,” I told him, stepping out of his reach again.
He set his jaw and insisted, “Yes. You. Are.”
He reached forward again and while I tried to dodge him, he caught hold of my elbow. He lifted it straight up and yanked me toward him.
“I don’t think so. Didn’t you tell me a soulmate’s touch is like electricity? Well how come yours just burns me?!” I wiggled again but he held firm.
Now I was starting to get ticked off. I tried to remember what I had done to Vance, but whatever that was wasn’t coming to me that easily.
My mind kept moving. Electric touch. Forgotten memories. Sean being a possessive a^s.
“It’s Jake isn’t it? I already have a soulmate. And it’s not you,” I said with anger.
My words shocked him enough that he let go of me. He seemed to get lost in thought and I glanced around for ideas on how to get out of this. A branch on the ground a few steps away, the door of some neighbor over there - but was I fast enough to get to either?
Sean shook his head once more and I saw his power doing something. Light appeared and flickered, getting bigger and bigger. It was nearly blinding but I couldn’t look away.
“You are mine,” he whispered, and then he grabbed my hand once more.
I felt slow. Like everything around me was flying by and I was moving through sand. I tried to pull back but he was already there. I tried to turn my head away from the pulsating light but he forced my neck to stay still.
“I wasn’t going to do this again. But you’re giving me no choice,” I heard him whisper in my ear.
The sensation of it made me shiver, like hearing the squeak of styrofoam against styrofoam.
I felt myself fog up. My mind. Trying to think. Jake. Soulmate. Get- get away. Help.
I felt so tired. More so than when Kyle was showing me his abilities. I sank to the sidewalk. Sean catching me and easing me down. Then he was kissing me, and all I could do was look up at this cloud up, way up in the sky. Exhaustion finally took me.

Sean walked me home after our date. He really is the sweetest. We held hands all the way to the top of the hill, and to the top of the creepy staircase. My spine burned by the time he left me there. Our touch did that. Soulmates needed to have a certain amount of physical contact or it would burn the next time they touched. One day when we lived together we would have more contact, Sean promised. But for now, we would muddle through.
I pulled my phone out to call Ally before heading down through these trees. Sean would’ve walked me the rest of the way but he said he needed to rush home. Next time. I dialed Ally’s number and it rang until it got to her voicemail.
“Yeah, Ally I’m coming. Seriously, calm down. It’ll be just a minute,” I pretended to talk with her on the other line. Like usual. Except…
I froze, something feeling off. I looked around, hearing a bird chirp in a tree.
“Oh,” I said aloud, forgetting I should pretend to talk with Ally. “So you want to tell me what’s going on?” I kept going.
I was making a “hmm” sound when I turned the last corner and I let out a breath, I was safe.
A pain burned up my arm, and I screamed out as a hand covered my mouth.
I jinxed it.

Ally~
I came back to our world after almost an hour of speaking with my grandma through the amulet.
“And she’s back,” Kyle said, his eyes on his phone. “I just texted your mom to pick us up when she can. Want to get a snack or something? Where’s good around here?”
“Oh let’s hit up Donna’s, they’re the local corner shop. Candies, sandwiches, stuff like that..” I suggested, looking for my phone.
We got up and my phone fell to the floor, I picked it up and noticed a missed call. And a voicemail.
We began walking to Donna’s and I called Rachel back. The line rang for a while and I got her voicemail. Eh, maybe she’s busy. We crossed the street and I closed the notifications. But the voicemail one wouldn’t disappear. So I called my voicemail line and listened to Rachel talking to herself.
I almost hung up when I realized the missed call was from not long ago - hadn’t I been talking with my grandma for an hour? Why did it take her so long to get up the hill? It was like a 10 or 15 minute walk.
And then I heard her scream. No!
My arm reached out and I grabbed on to Kyle’s sleeve. I yanked him and started running another way up towards Rachel’s.
Our feet pounded on the sidewalk and asphalt, and we ran with all we could muster. Almost at the top of the hill I tripped, but Kyle caught my arm and we kept on going. Then I saw a figure putting something in the trunk of a car and I felt my pendant heat up.
“There!” I shouted.
We ran closer and behind a bush it became clear, a hooded figure was putting Rachel in the trunk!
“Stop!” I yelled, and ran full force into the person, knocking them over.
Kyle ran to the trunk and tried to check on Rachel when the figure pushed out some power that had us both falling to our knees. Kyle’s head fought to stay upright and when he looked at me I knew I had to push through.
Straining to move at all I let my magic sink into my chest and up out of my hands until I was glowing all over. I hadn’t trained in any kind of fighting magic, but I could sure make it look like I had. I shot starlight out at the figure and he fell straight back, trying to dodge it. When he stood up we sucked in a breath.
Vance.
But with inky black veins all over his face and neck. He looked as worn down as Kyle had when he had stumbled his way to my house.
He grinned at us viciously when he saw the realization on our faces.
“Well, I should say I am surprised… but mostly this is just entertaining,” he cackled.
He looked back to where I had thrown the light and smeared.
“Nice trick,” he got closer and looked at me sideways. “Let me guess - Witchling? Not even into her full powers? And…” he came closer to Kyle. “I wonder what…”
Kyle reached out suddenly and grabbed him by the arm, pouring his power into him to make him sleep. Vance stumbled and opened his mouth before falling over to the side.
“I really don’t know how long that will last on a demon,” Kyle said, standing up and rushing to the car.
He went to grab Rachel from under her back and knees when I felt pain like nothing before on the back of my head. Then it all went dark.

Kyle~
I was exhausted, pouring that much of my magic into Vance. But I’d had no choice, the chance to do that again wouldn’t come, and I had no idea how much magic it would take to bring down a demon.
I almost had her out of the car when I heard Ally cry out. I looked over quickly but it was too late. Something jabbed me in the neck, and I had a flash - a moment of Dejavu. When I hit the ground all I could see were some very tiny women’s shoes walking across my field of vision. And then, blackness.