(So I’m dedicating this chapter to my new fan bella_lastrange because this person was very urgent for me to upload lol, but also I’d like to send out a special thanks to Kirbyx for taking the unpaid job of being my unofficial editor lol did you notice I said unpaid? So with that said I made this a little longer just for you! Lol Enjoy...)

The pain was immediate and callously unforgiving as I tried unsuccessfully to ignore the sharpness of its claw ripping against my skin. Tears clouded my vision while breathing became secondary to the burning in my chest. Raising my arms in my pathetic attempts to push it away only seemed to scold my palms, its surface instantly becoming inflamed, reddened, bubbling engorged blisters.

I could taste my own blood gushing from my open cuts, spewing into my screaming mouth. My mind quickly became plagued with confusion, my sight frayed at its edges as all awareness of reality began to slip from my grasp. I knew soon the eternal darkness would come take siege of my soul as I watched the demon pause in its vicious attack to physically place his repulsive lips to my gashes, sucking and savoring every essential essence I seemed to possess.

Was this really it? Was this how I was meant to die?

Andrea wasn’t coming, not that I had any forlorn idea that she ever would, and submerged in darkness I felt as if I would soon join her.

The act of taking in oxygen into my burning lungs was becoming too insufferable. The sight of my blood soaked chest continuing to rise in slow succession frightened me, and to my sluggish brain the very idea of breathing now becoming too tedious to resume. Screaming became pointless, arduous to carry on, and soon the only thing to come from my lips was a tiny trail of blood and the faint sound of wheezing. With eyes barely open watching this repugnant beast continue to devour my open chest I raised a weak hand to my forehead, my mind leaving what remained of my ravaged form searching hysterically for some miniature part of me that remained intact from within.

I gasped; my body shuddering irrepressibly. The evil being raised its bloody jaws to gaze at my pale face as I finally took hold of the tiniest fraction of the power I held inside, ability until this bleak, desolate moment I never knew I obtained. From inside me I could feel trances of the liquid Andrea had once forced me to consume. I felt it travel within my veins, slither along my bones, glide against my muscles. Its stroke warmed every crevice it touched; tingles erupting from its mere contact while every cut, bruise, and abrasion I had endured healed before my very eyes.

“No …it is not possible,” The creature hissed, his gaze furious and yet astonished at my now untarnished skin, the only remembrance of the attack was the red liquid I lied in, the same substance that still dripped from his teeth. “What have you done?”

My gaze met his, watching his angry expression transform into something of pure detestation as he raised a bloody talon directly over my head.

“No,” I cried, my eyes never leaving that hovering claw.

“Let us watch you heal a severed head!”

I raised my hands, a feeble endeavor to cover myself while inadvertently unleashing a scorching, searing, blinding energy from my palms. My fingers and arms quivered at the sheer strength it took to control this power as it continued to burn like acid from my skin. The mere touch of this force on the demon’s dilapidated skin liquefied its surface, blisters and boils instantly sprouting around the edges of his sores while huge gashes seemed to rip him in two.

Sweat coursed down my skin in a multitude of jagged trails, my body growing weak at trying to restrain it. I could feel the power growing bolder as it surpassed my weak hold I held on it, watching helplessly as it hurled the beast from my side, pinning it to the wall near my feet. It screamed a sound so excruciatingly agonizing that even I wondered how it could continue to live. Tears fell from my lids from the pain of the sweltering heat bounding from my hands as I watched the literal combustion of this demon; its melting skin, its eyes pained, bleak as they gazed into mine, and oh god the smell. The scent of charred skin, an odor I knew I would never be able to disregard.

My body was growing weak, drained of all energy and I knew from experience that these creatures were not known to travel unaccompanied. With a hand still trained on the burnt fiend who was clearly begging for death to come swiftly I turned the other towards the door, watching as it flew across the room from the sheer force suddenly placed upon it. My gaze swung back towards what was left of my attacker seeing nothing there but blackened steel where it once stood and a vast mass of oozing bloody secretion.

I closed my eyes concentrating on my breathing, on the sound of the drip from the pipes beyond this room, on the fierce scalding of my skin, trying with all the energy I had left to encage the beast I had released from inside. A lone tear merged within the sweat that cascaded down my face as at last it retracted from my palms, the room instantly enfolding back into darkness. My inhalation was labored as I rested heavily at the edge of my tomb trying to regain my ability to think, let alone move.

What had I just done?

I glanced down at my palms but still it remained too dark to see if any difference lied along my skin. I had to get out of here; it was not safe for me to stay enclosed in darkness for too long.

“Anna, you do not have time to rest,” a voice whispered from within, a voice that sounded remarkably like Andrea.

“Andrea?”

“Do not speak, for every second we waste, it draws nearer.”

“What are you talking about? Are more coming? Where are you? What-.”

“Anna! I do not have time to explain! I can’t come to you. I am forbidden to interfere. I shouldn’t be talking to you now. There are more coming for you, and something else!”

Fear eroded my small sense of calm, “What do you mean something else? Something worse than that?” I questioned, pointing at the remains of my assailant.

“A breed older than the beings that have been coming after you, something more powerful. Something who knows more about who and what you are. Anna you have to get out of there!”

I trembled, my body shaking as I tried to control my sobs, “I can’t Drea! I’m too weak, too tired.”

“Use what I gave you! You have just enough left! Anna use it now!”

There in the dark I clasped my eyes shut, my heart hammering in my chest as I tried once again to concentrate on everything inside me, until I felt that same sense of the liquid voyaging throughout my body, renewing my strength, replenishing my spirit. When I opened my brown gaze this time I suddenly felt empowered, strong, invigorated.

“Anna this is it. Run now!”

Needing no further encouragement I hopped down onto the dusty floor, running to what I could only hope was the door in the pitch blackness of the room. My fingers grasped the knob jerking its heavy handle towards me, grateful finally to immerse myself in the lamp light of the decrepit hallway just as I heard the sounds of the massive amount of nails scraping against tile behind me.

“Anna whatever you do, don’t look behind you! Just run!”

I could practically see my heart pulsating against the skin of my chest, my feet barely sweeping against the tile as I sped down the empty corridor, completely blind to what direction I was supposed to be traveling. My arms swung relentlessly at my sides, my curls blowing in the wind, and the only sounds besides that unyielding drip from the pipes above was the slight squeak of my shoes against the floor. That assiduous burning of my lungs returned with a vengeance but my pace never relented as I heard the sounds of the morgue’s door being flung into the air, launched from its very hinges. I rounded the corner, my feet moving so quickly that they flew out before me, my hands pushing towards the ground as I swiftly regained my footing.

All around me I could hear the sounds of livid growls from behind, but in heeding Andrea’s advice I did not turn to look at how many followed my path, how many red eyes watched me hungrily. Sweat poured from my skin, its drip stringing my terrified gaze. I could hear claws ripping into the frail walls, plaster crumbling in huge shambles in my wake, and the lights that hung above my head like a halo leading me to safety began to slowly methodically disengage from the ceiling as they fell to smash brutally against the hard tiled floor just behind my feet, sparks flying around the strewn chaos while darkness erupted much to my predator’s delight.

I came to a fork in the hallway, wondering which path to choose but with little time to make a decision. Taking the corridor I assumed would guide me back towards my room I quickly realized my mistake. A dead end stood at the end of my course and I heard the sounds of laughter, knowing they slowed their pace realizing the confinement I had encased myself into.

Dread filled my exhausted limbs as I came upon my entrapment, tears silently running down my face as I gazed out into the twilight from behind the glass. My fingers rested against its cold surface watching from behind this transparent cage as the trees blew innocently against the wind; people drove by on the distant highway completely and wonderfully ignorant to everything that surrounded them, the sun continued its plummet into the earth, its descent transforming the sky into a beautifully vivid compilation of colors. My eyes fell to the gravel so far below, wondering if it would be less painful to break the glass and slowly plunge to my death.

I turned unhurriedly around to face my fate, observing the hundreds of blood thirsty creatures all anxiously awaiting my demise, consumed with unguarded ecstasy at the mere idea of draining me. They slithered closer with the measured grace of a panther about to pounce, a few crawled along the walls; still shredding gigantic holes along its surface, while the rest crept the length of the ceiling above; their nails thunderous as it scraped against the rusted pipes, steam shooting out into the stale air.

“Tempus fugit,” the words lingered from within the ravenous crowd, the avaricious horde clearly parting for this voice to travel nearer. The sound of shoes against tile intrigued me as much as it frightened, for I remembered Andrea’s warning lucidly. There was more to fear than the familiar beast I was accustomed to.

Time flies was the meaning of his words, clearly implying that we had met before.

“And here we meet again my poor powerless Anna,” Mick whispered as he finally came into the light. His iris gleamed with a sheen of contempt, his pupils completely an incensed red, his smile ominous in its uplift, the edges tugged as if by concealed shadows, his teeth jagged far more sharper than I could ever recall, his white scrubs now filthy with dirt, and surrounding his menacing form was that thin lining of yellow.

Clearly Mick had been taken over after he had left me entrapped in the morgue, and here standing before me was the same demon who had possessed Dr. Whitely, the same creature that could paralyze me with a simple glance.

Aww, shit.

“I thought I wasn’t the one you were after,” I whispered, my mind frantically searching for a way out.

“You weren’t, but things change. Orders change. Your pitiful effort to escape your doomed fate was entertaining if not fruitful,” he laughed at the tears in my eyes, motioning towards my blocked path, “Erre humanum est.”

To err is human.

I watched as he took a step closer, delighted at my instilled fear, “but luckily I have not an ounce of such insubstantially, ineffectual, vulnerability to pollute my mind that you pitiful creatures call humanity.”

“And yet here you are, forced to reside in one,” I mocked.

His eyes sliced into mine, hate consuming his gaze as the sound of the glass I leaned on began to slowly crack against my palm, “I’d suggest you not make me angry! I would hope you would realize how easy it would be for me to sling your scrawny ass right out of that window!”

“Anna, do not make him mad! Find a way to distract it! It is cocky and does see you as a threat! He will disobey his orders, command his minions to kill you! I have seen it already! He does not think your death is worth his time! Get him talking while slowly making your way to the door to your left before they attack,” Andrea screamed into my ears.

“I – I don’t understand any of this,” I mumbled, my feet barely moving an inch towards my left, “why is my death so important to you?”

He scoffed, “You filthy humans never seem to comprehend! Damnant quod non intelligunt!”

They condemn what they do not understand.

“You were condemned?” I questioned, my expression one of innocence as I eased further away, the edge of the window now in my grip.

“My whole race was condemned the day your protectors,” he spat out protector as if the meager word was an insult bounding off his tongue, “allowed the mere existence of the human race to be created, beings so contemptuous in design, its flaws practically pleading for its own conclusion.”

I wanted to cry out in relief as I felt the door knob resting inside my palm, “dum vita est spes est.”

While there’s life, there’s hope.

“You dare spout empty platitudes in my native tongue you insolent, impetuous fool! It shall be the end of you!” He screeched, shadows lurking across his face, the green in his gaze turning completely black while the red in his pupils seemed to blaze as he pointed an accusing finger towards me, “Get her!”

Moving quickly I yanked the door from behind, slamming it shut just as they swarmed closer. My fingers moved quickly to shove the lock in place, but the door was old and I knew it wouldn’t hold for long.

“You just couldn’t keep that mouth shut,” Andrea scolded, “Anna, that door won’t hold them. Turn around and run!”

I twisted my head from the vibrating door, the sheer energy pounding upon it shaking the hinges right off its side, and just as I turned to run I saw the door itself fly directly above my head. My feet pounded against the floor as I dashed towards the end of the tunnel trying to ignore the sinister laughter filling its walls.

“That’s right, run my spineless, inadequate coward! For tonight shall be your last,” he screamed.

I reached the tunnel’s end, the feeling of eyes watching my progress causing the panic to increase the momentum of every step, and yet still the echo of their boundless clawing pursuit rang out after me. I slipped as I turned the corner; my body crouched low to the ground, nails combing through my curls as one fiend that had lunged for my petrified form collided into the awaiting wall. Not bothering to check if it was injured, to see the few strands its talon managed to capture, or how close the others trailed from behind I rose again, running restlessly towards the light. An open door beckoned me at the hall’s conclusion, its appearance studier than the last. And still my obstinate hopes remained that this would hold off the malicious monsters that hounded me, for I knew running aimlessly through these halls was pointless. I would grow tired, they would not.

My fingers reached the entrance just as a talon ripped into my unprotected skin. I belted out an excruciating shriek feeling its touch blazing into me, its grip unpitying just as I slammed the door shut locking me inside, unfortunately bringing my companion along with me.

It had released its clasp at the blocking of our exit as I turned my back to the quaking door towards the huge demon glaring before me, “this is senseless. Your attempt at escape is futile. Even a creature as dimwitted as you must see that.”

I eased around it cautiously, my gaze never leaving its body as he remained fixated on my moving form, “I have almost died many times, and yet in the end the only dimwitted one I find is you.”

It growled in vehemence, launching recklessly towards my terrified form just as I dived in the air sliding across an aged counter only to fall, crouched down on soundless feet. Quickly I crept from my spot towards the small space in between two cabinets, watching as it followed my movements across the counter, ripping chunks of it to the ground as its claws gripped its surface, only to be disappointed at not finding me behind it.

“You will only cause your imminent demise to be more painful with this petty trickery human! Reveal yourself and I promise to make it quick!” It screamed as it scanned the room, its body quick to smash the lamp that hung from the ceiling, encasing us in darkness.

All remained silent except for the impatient pounding of the door, and the cautious scrape of nails against tile as it searched the vast lab for my whereabouts. The only illumination now lingering along the dust covered surfaces came from the minuscule hint of the moon encircled by clouds from the windows that lined the far off wall. Beakers crashed uncaringly to the ground, the sound of crushed glass underneath its feet filled the air as I tried to control my breathing, trying to remain completely soundless. My legs feet increasingly numb from my bent position and yet still my lips remained sealed.

“That door will not hold them forever,” it taunted, its pretentiously mocking voice sounding remarkably closer. I rose preparing to amend my place of concealment just as a claw clutched my neck, its grip gagging the very breath from my body as it pushed me back against the wall, its firm hold suspending me in mid-air. My eyes rounded in alarm as I gazed into triumph filled red pupils, my hands uncaring of the burning sensations searing into my skin as I tried to rip from its hold, my feet dangling, kicking uselessly from the ground. “Just as that hiding spot would not keep you obscured for long.”

My ineffective hands fell to their sides, my gaze traveling over his shoulder searching frantically for anything to stop the faint dizziness I felt slowly entering my body, my life gradually eluding my clutch. A discarded scalpel lay just beyond my reach on the cabinet to my right, covered in dust and cobwebs. My gaze zeroed in on its surface wishing for some way to escape just long enough to obtain it. I was afraid to harness the power I had used before, too terrified of it overwhelming me, or worse weakening me so much to the point that by the time that door did break down I would be rendered completely useless.

“Welcome death my defenseless human. Let go of this obsession with life you cling to. For it will be less painful if you release your clutch to merely existing on this earth due to my efforts rather than the cruel fate that will await if another being like myself was to capture you.”

His words spoke of leniency and yet the way his thirsty gaze watched the throbbing vein in my neck, awaiting the moment to rip into my unsoiled skin spoke volumes of his alleged compassion. My fingers rose towards the scapel, still frenetically stretching my limbs in vain while my gaze never left his. I will not die this way, I raged silently while allowing the inner door to the cage I feared to unfasten, a small amount of energy to reach my palm.

The scapel vibrated against the table, shaking wildly against the counter’s surface before it vaulted across the dust, embedding itself into my waiting hand. Swinging my arm up quickly before I became too weakened to move I plunged the knife directly into the beast’s red eye, blood spurting into my open, gasping mouth. Instantly I found freedom, falling harshly on bended knee I clutched at the rawness of my neck tenderly, tears slipping from my eyes as I choked on my new found air, spitting out the putrid taste of my enemy while ignoring the wounded screams that pealed out into the room.

Blood poured down its derelict features, his hands haste to remove the knife only causing the scarlet liquid to surge from the wound that much more abundantly. His face was an obvious depiction of the agony he endured, his body hunched over in misery, the slight quivering of his traumatized claws too overwhelming to conceal.

“You fool!” It screamed as it turned fuming eyes on my flaccid form. Arms extended, it launched towards me just as I raised a palm freezing it in mid-assault. The creature’s expression was one of extreme devastation with tiny droplets of fear hidden in its crevices at my concealed capabilities. With only a slight bend of a finger I compelled his massive form to crumple at my side, ignoring the terror I saw residing in his gaze.

“Anna, don’t do it!” Andrea screamed.

And yet I ignored her warning somehow knowing that I could not take on the horde of demons craving for my death without the help of this monster.

“I have to,” I whispered, just as the searing form bound from my palm. I contained it with all the strength inside me, sweat pouring from my brow, my skin ripping in jagged cuts along my arms as I cried out ignoring the throbbing pain while forging my palm with the demon’s claw. I watched as the white light surged into his body, his tormented screams echoing off the walls as the light completely consumed him, sucking at the very core of his essence, extracting every ounce of power that resided in his now emaciated, gaunt, withered body. His form remained an empty shell lying in its own blood and excretions, an expression one of pure horror frozen on his features as the white force now replete, lurked back inside me. Its entrance into my body expelling a diminutive piece of my soul that was pure, good.

My body felt as if it was being shredded apart from within, dark shadows swirled around my crumpled form, slithering through my hair, caressing my skin like an awaiting mischievously treacherous ally. I screamed as the fiery sensation underneath my skin rose from the tip of my toes fusing itself with the colorless light inside me until it burned into the crown of my head.

“Anna, what have you done?” Andrea whispered, her voice one of fear.

“Survived,” I replied, my head jerking up, my curls falling back from shielding my expression. My eyes remained a beautifully innocent hazel, my pupils that still forever trusting black and yet… just along the edges now lied a thin layer of menacing crimson.

I rose to my feet, loving the feel of the limitless amount of energy coursing along my veins. With every foot step I took the ground shook vicariously beneath my soles, the wind blew riotously through my curls, my hazel eyes intent on the pounding of the door.

“Anna, you can’t do this! You have to get that out of you now!”

“I’m sorry Andrea, but I’m afraid this conversation is over,” I whispered while inwardly blocking whatever channel she used to reach me.

Raising a hand towards the steel door I watched calmly, impassively as the slight bend of my palm into a fist triggered its surface to crumple as if its edges were merely made of paper. Hinges squeaked as they dropped broken against the tile before finally the chuck of mangled metal fell; its sound deafening as it bounced off the walls, its sudden disappearance at last allowing me my first view of the hundreds of demons avidly watching, eager to get inside. I observed them swarming the entryway, slithering their way up the ceilings, along the walls towards my lone, solitary figure. Their jaws extended, their pointed teeth ready to seep into unblemished skin.

And still I did not move.

It was only until they filled the room, covered every available space surrounding me that one enormous beast, slightly larger than the rest separated himself from the pack to condescendingly pace directly before me. “You do not run,” it mocked as it drew nearer. “Are you-.”

I watched it halt mid-sentence, his red gaze staring intently into mine, closely examining my indifferently vindictive hazel orbs, petrified at finding the tinge of red residing in their depths.

“Retrea-,” it began to scream, for the words never completely left its lips before my palm rose, incinerating his frightened figure with the small flick of my finger. The only tribute to his memory was the tiny cloud of dust that lingered in the air and the ashes that lied at my feet.

The sound of hundreds of nails scraping the walls to get to the exit was vociferous, the floors seeming to vibrate beneath me at the undisguised display of cowardice, the ground visibly quaking under the unanticipated weight of the massive movement. My arm fell back to its side, a wicked grin sliding upon my lips. My dimples were playful in their appearance into my rosy cheeks as I watched them fleeing for their lives, my heart empty of its usual compassion. I felt my fingers withdraw into themselves forming a tight immovable fist. My nails digging, breaking the skin of my palm before finally I released my unyielding grip, my fingers extended. The glass windows directly behind me and in the hall shattered into a million shards, chunks of it flying into the crying demons that still tried in vain to escape, blood drizzling down like tiny droplets of a refreshing spring’s downpour. And all around me an inferno commenced, bodies caught aflame; their eyes pained as the fire leapt along their besieged forms, burning darkened holes along the very pores of their skin. Their deaths were brutally delayed, prolonged in its moment of agony, their screams of torment tragically ineffective at appealing to my conscience.

I gazed out at their burning flesh slightly bored, less entertained at the sight as I callously stepped over the many howling beast that littered the floor, their pleas for mercy falling on deaf ears. The glass crunched beneath my shoes as I walked out of the room, my feet barely pausing at the dumfounded expression on Mick’s face, the few stray demons cowering behind him.

“This is only the beginning,” he hissed, his essence and those of his minions vanishing into shadows, creeping quickly away into nothingness before I could think to react.

Until at last, all that lay in the hall with me were Mick’s clearly unconscious body and the sounds of hundreds of burning creatures still crying out for relief. Irritated at their annoyingly pathetic, depressing pleas I flicked my eyes back towards the room watching instantly as the flames were extinguished, leaving all that remained of so many demons nothing but blackened spots on every available surface, and several insignificant mounds of dark ash.

My foot steps were deadly silent as I approached Mick’s motionless body. Stooping down to squat beside him I allowed a finger to caress his cheek, watching as it burned a dark trail along its surface. Unlike the creatures that haunted me I had the ability to turn off my scorching touch if I cared to, but clearly in this moment I did not.

Mick gasped, his green gaze widening at my composed appearance standing over him. His bewildered eyes clean of any interference, glanced frighteningly at the charred walls, the broken glass, and the blood soaked floors. “What is going on? Where am I?”

I smiled, “Clearly not where you thought you would be.”

“You- you were in the morgue!” he exclaimed, his eyes frantically searching his blank memories for understanding, “how did you get out?”

I glared down at his startled face, my hazel eyes glowing in the moonlight, the red rim flashing, “Not by any help of yours!”

The wind picked up suddenly blowing chaotically through my curls, the ground surrounding us pulsating beneath our bodies. Mick glanced around him; his expression was horrifyingly panicked, obviously realizing who was responsible for the earth’s tremor. He glanced up at me, his eyes pleading, “Please, don’t hurt-.”

“You had no compassion for me if I recall correctly.”

Bawling, his voice slightly whining, he grabbed my arm begging, “I’m sorry, please forgive me.”

“Kill him!” an inner voice raged, “he does not deserve to live!”

“No,” I rose to my feet, my hands rising to grip my curls, my mind trying to rid itself of this voice.

“He was the cause of all this! The reason you almost died! What are you waiting for, finish him!”

“No, I won’t kill him,” I whispered my eyes closing, tears slipping from my lids, the red rim fighting with hazel.

“Kill me? No please, I- I just want to go home,” Mick beseeched, his body quickly moving on bended knee to gaze up at me.

I could feel the internal struggle ragging a chaotic war inside me, my control completely beyond my strength of wills to overpower this black void I felt released from within. Then finally my lids slid opened, the building ceased its quivering, and the wind absolutely vanished as my hazel eyes turned back towards him. My fingers slid into his blond tresses watching as he winced against the pain, his form shivering in his own fear, pants soaked as urine slowly encircled his trembling body.

I leaned in closer, my lips mere inches from his, “do not fear Mick.” His eyes opened to gaze into mine, horrified at finding them now completely red. “Home is exactly where I intend to send you.”

My grip ripped ruthlessly into his arm, my essence feeding off his screams, my nails leaving a trail of blood splattered along the floor before the body of attendant Mick disappeared altogether. I rose back to my full height, humming a Paramore song underneath my breath as I stepped over his urine to walk back towards the hall that would lead me to my room. The disaster caused to this basement was extensive as I carefully made my way through the crumbled debris in the darkened corridors, no longer needing the light to lead me. I reached the hallway of the morgue easily; lead by Mick’s terrified shrieks.

There behind closed doors, encased in darkness, his screams his only company, laid attendant Mick. His fist bloody as it banged against the unfeeling metal, his cheeks wet from his useless tears, trapped in the confinement of his very own cold chamber.

I walked to the doors that lead to the stairwell, pausing listening to the joyful sounds of his screams while inwardly knowing…

…That unlike me no one was going to find poor, sadly pathetic Mick.

……………………………………………………………

Panic had besieged the level of my ward, nurses ran frantically around in the dim lighting trying to induce a false sense of calm that even they could not manage to capture, while persuading each patient to return to their rooms. Some with mere words, while others with brutal force. I watched as two attendants practically dragged a deranged girl dressed identically to me down another hallway. My dirty shoes squeaked against the polished tile, my filthy pants now ripped, my shirt bloody in shards from the demon’s attack. My dark curls lay is tangled masses down my back, dirt caked along my skin, huge bruises the size of a giant’s fingers lined my neck while my hazel eyes watched as those who did still linger in the corridor slowly backed from my leisurely moving form, their glances filled with unease.

I made it the nurse’s station just outside my door when a voice stopped me, the only voice I knew that was brave enough to question my appearance.

“Anna, where have you been?” Maria asked from behind me, her voice concerned as she took in my crumpled form.

I turned towards her, watching her gasp at the blood forever staining my sullied tee shirt, her concern turning swiftly into one of fear as she saw the red rim inside my eyes. “Anna, where is Mick?”

A brow rose condescendingly, “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”

“Anna, your covered in blood and yet not one scratch can be found on your chest. You have bruises along your neck, and you have been missing for hours. Where is Mick?” Her brown eyes searched mine as if hunting for the girl I once was as she took a careful step closer.

“Where were you?” I asked completely twisting the interrogation to fit my own needs. “You told me that you would come for me after I left Doctor Whitley’s office, but you never came.”

The emergency generator had kicked in after the quakes so the only illumination cast upon our lone figures was the sparse faintly lit lights in each corner of the corridors, and at my words even those began to flicker.

Maria’s face crumpled in confusion, her honey brown strands swinging out around her as she glanced up at the lights before turning back to me, “Someone go check on those lights,” she ordered. “Anna, it wasn’t time for your session to be finished. I only heard about Mick coming for you when they came to treat Dr, Whitley.”

“You lie!” I raged, an abrupt gust of wind swept callously through the hallway, ferociously whipping through our tresses. No one else remained in the now deserted lobby; all patients had been ushered back to their rooms while the others went to investigate the still flickering lights.

And so it remained only Maria who gazed up at me in horror.

“Anna, what have you done?”

Turning from her accusing gaze, knowing inwardly that she never meant harm to come to me I continued walking back towards my room pausing only as I felt her grip tighten around my arm. I gazed pointedly down at that hand, then back up into her eyes. Her body trembled, I could practically taste her fear on my tongue, and yet still she demanded, “Where’s Mick?”

A vase full of flowers resting on the desk to our right smashed, its pieces shattering against the tile floor, water pouring over the table’s edge, flowers an array of colors shrew across the floor.

Maria gazed astonished eyes on the mess before they returned to mine, watching as the red flashed within them. Swiftly I felt her grip loosen before it dropped completely, her foot steps slowly retreating. From inside the entrance of my darkened room, still watching Maria’s frozen form standing in the hall, my eyes transformed completely scarlet.

“I do not take orders from anyone!” I bellowed my voice hoarse, deeper than I had ever heard it as I allowed the door to slam piercingly shut, plainly unaided from any outside help.

“Anna, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Andrea screamed, her fingers clutching at my shoulders forcing me to turn to face her enraged features.

“Weren’t you ordered,” I mocked, the word ordered sliding from the tip of my tongue bitterly, “to not interfere in my life?”

She yanked me harshly into the moonlight, her eyes resolutely intent on its mission to gaze into mine. “Anna I begged you not to do this!”

I shrugged from her grip, “Yeah, and you also left me alone to die!” My red eyes pungently furious as it clashed with blue, “you left me no choice!”

“You know that’s not true! I stayed with you every step of the way, doing everything in my power to protect you!”

“Well guess what big sister?” I grinned evilly up into the beauty of her incensed face, “I’m strong enough now to take care of myself!”

Her arms crossed angrily over her breast, her blue eyes glaring into my smug expression, “You call this strong Anna? Choosing darkness because you were too weak to face your fears alone!”

Fury burning the very core of my being, my hand rose taking Andrea’s suddenly terrified form along with it, pinning her motionless figure to the wall. I saw her no longer as my sister but an infuriating enemy that had to be swiftly defeated. “You know nothing of what its like to face the grips of death knowing hundreds of breast lie in wait to rip you apart!”

“Anna, stop this! Release me!” she ordered, her voice weak even to my own ears as I watched her pointless struggle to remove herself.

“And yet now you stand there holier than thou preaching and teaching me false claims of choosing darkness over light!” I screamed my eyes deadly as I approached, Andrea’s shouts for me to stop increasing as the force holding her slowly began to pull at her outstretched arms.

“Tell me Drea,” I mocked my voice the perfect imitation of my younger self, “what happens to a dead spirit when it is slowly ripped apart?” Andrea let out a piercing scream as her arms stretched a little further, knowing no one would come to her rescue when only I could hear her. “Does it feel pain as a human would?”

My finger rose, pointing directly towards her arm, watching as skin shredded, blood seeping from its cuts, her cries filling the room. “Anna, I know you can hear me in there! You have to stop this! I’m your sister!”

Another slice lined the opposite arm while I smirked at the toe-curling shriek that escaped from her lips. “Please Anna, you can’t let this happen! If you do this I can never come back to you!” Andrea pleaded, her gaze grave in its sincerity.

I felt compassion seeping into my hardened heart, the weak pieces of Anna trying to push out the malevolent dark force. “No”, I screamed, my fingers hasty to rip another excruciating slash into Andrea’s skin, loving the sight of her blood staining the tile floor.

Her tears now blinded her gaze, but still her voice appeared resilient, “Anna fight it! You are stronger than its hold on you! You were strong enough to harness its power; you are strong enough to confine it back into its cell!”

My frenzied hands rose to grasp my spinning head, my vision blurred as I fought to regain control over my wilting body. I fell on bended knee internally fighting my way back into the light. The fire inside me blazed every inch of my soul, my body doubled over in excruciating pain.

“Anna you can do this! Push it out of your body!”

I felt myself indomitably clawing my way from the cage the darkness had brutally forced me into, compelling it to take my place instead. My eyes felt as if they had been ruthlessly gouged from their sockets as the red slowly receded, like a stubborn nail raking against skin, my brown iris superseding its scarlet tormentor. Then finally the inexhaustible fire calmed as quickly as it had raged, its flames evaporating as a cool calm surpassed it, at last allowing me to raise my head. Andrea fell harshly to her knees in relief, the force that held her quivering body vanishing as she quickly crawled towards me as if needing further evidence to prove to herself that truly I was okay.

Cherry colored tears streamed down my trembling chin and yet now not an ounce of crimson lied in my golden gaze. Andrea’s arms engulfed my terrified form, relief pouring off her in waves. “Gosh, you scared the hell out me Anna.”

“I’m sorry Andrea, I couldn’t control it. I couldn’t stop my need to cause pain. It was like it consumed me,” I whispered, hoping somehow she could forgive me.

Pulling away from me, glancing down at my shaken expression she whispered, “Its okay now. It’s over.”

“Is it Drea? That power was already inside me before I allowed darkness to enter.”

Her trembling hand pushed back one of my stray curls, the moment reminding so much of my past life that I instantly felt homesick. “Anna, moving things with your mind, compelling evil away with white light none of that was ever bad, just unpracticed. You need to learn to control it. You just never had the time to be taught.”

I gazed down at my hands, shuddering at the memory of the pain that force caused at the mere use of its power. “And the rest?” I whispered.

“The fire incinerating those around you, the paralyzing of your victims, the shaking of the earth, controlling the element of the wind… that is something I had never seen before.”

I gazed back up into her scared big blue eyes, “what does that mean Drea?”

She shook her head vehemently, her arms holding me close, “Doesn’t matter, its gone. It’s completely out of your body, and that’s all that counts. Everything will be alright now.”

Andrea held my immobile form against her chest, those words of comfort now unknown to me if they were spoken for my benefit or for hers. I wanted with everything within me to believe that the words she said were true, but I knew things were far from alright. They would still come for me; I still had no control over my abilities, and no matter how much Andrea willed it to be true the darkness still remained, dormant for the given moment. For how long I couldn’t tell. It had fused itself inside me, and no matter what I did it adamantly refused to leave my side.

I would never be entirely alone again.

………………………………………………………………………

(Well, what did you guys think? And be honest because I have never written an action scene before, so while I see everything like a movie in my head, and I’m trying to describe everything to you guys so that you can come along for the ride I never know if I succeeded lol. I wanted to show a different side of Anna because normally she cries and then is attacked, but in this chapter she actually runs and fights back lol. I never plan out my story so I kind just wrote some ideas on a posted note the other day and while I was typing I was like oh my god I have to turn Anna evil lol. What did you think of that idea? I thought it was cool to have the demons running this time instead of the other way around lol.

Kirbyx, I left you a comment on the bottom of chapter 5 answering your last questions. I don’t know if you ever got it. Next time maybe I’ll try messaging, but thanks for all your continued help.

Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter!

If you did vote, add to your library, and always comment lol.)

Until next time…