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𝐎𝐍𝐄 : 𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒

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"What are we going to do?" whispered Blondie, pacing in front of me. She had a nervous arm wrapped around her middle and her other hand was working its way through her hair. Her face was pale and there was black soot dusted across her cheeks and clothes.

I slid off the hood of Crow's car, shrugging because I really didn't know. We had driven maybe a mile from the barn before we pulled over to take a moment to breathe and think, that was thirty minutes ago. We had watched a fire truck come the opposite road and we watched the smoke slowly fade out into the sky.

"There has to be something we can do," she continued, picking at her bottom lip. "I mean, we just saw a fucking dead body, Blaire. We–we have to go to the cops, tell them more–" She slapped her thigh, scowling. "But of course we can't because the police are on John's payroll, the dick." She was rambling and I let her as I racked my own brain to figure out what to do.

John had taken Crow right from underneath my feet and then slaughtered Dr. Hex in the time it took for me and Blondie to leave my house and get to the barn. I moved my weight from foot to foot, easing the slight tingle out of my feet from how they'd fallen asleep. It was impossible not to let my mind wander from Crow to any other possible thing. When I thought of him, my throat threatened to close.

He could already be dead.

"God, and he has your goddamn knife," said Blondie, still rambling. Her voice cracked and she turned to look at me, tears in her eyes. "Tell me we're not screwed, okay? Tell me we can beat this."

I looked her in the eyes and didn't have the heart to lie. Not now. "I don't know."

"Oh my god," she cried, shaking her head. "At least tell me you've–you've killed a demon without your knife. At least tell me it's still possible to protect ourselves."

"I still needed the knife," I explained. "We could use holy water, like the bottle we brought tonight but we'd need the knife to kill them dead."

"Can we make our own?"

"I–" I stopped myself from saying no because I didn't know. "It's possible."

"Okay, okay," she muttered, nodding as she wiped her face, "this is good, we have an actual plan."

"And that is?"

She grinned. "Make more knives."

I pulled out my cigarettes from my bag, needing the smoke as I nodded along to her idea. I lit the cigarette and inhaled deeply before responding. "There's probably a spell for it in one of my mom's journals."

"Then we go back to Crow's place and figure out what to do."

"I think there's a place we should go first," I muttered, rubbing the back of my head where a small headache was beginning to form. I had been getting them even when there wasn't a spirit around and I had a horrible feeling it had to do with John. "Crow's missing and his...coworkers need to know."

Blondie frowned.

"The Clandestine Church probably isn't open but I know someone who's always around that we can speak to."

"And that is?"

"Victor Macabre."

"Who the hell is that?"

"A priest, preacher...uh, I don't know exactly what he does but he wears one of those white collars."

"A clerical collar, Blaire? What priests can wear?"

I nodded. "Yes, that. Well, he works closely with Crow."

"Is he...a demon, too?" I nodded again and Blondie smiled softly. "Who woulda thought, a demon priest in my church?" She laughed softly, shrugging. "All of this is just so funny, like we're acting out some horror movie. First we find out that my ex-boyfriend is the actual devil and your demon lover is kidnapped and now we find the murdered body of a guy literally named after the Hex Girls and now we have to go talk to a demon priest." She laughed again, louder, clutching her stomach.

"Don't forget your other ex killed my best friend," I whispered, shaking my head.

Blondie rested her palms against the car letting go of a heavy breath. "I thought he was good. I thought...out of the two of them, he'd be the better man."

"Then why keep falling back into John?"

She shrugged. "Old habits die hard, I guess."

I nodded, inhaling against my cigarette again then flicking the ash to the side. "I thought he was good, too. I thought, well, silly as it sounds but given some time...maybe we could've been something." I shrugged. "Ever since you said he liked me–"

"Loved you."

"Yeah," I sighed. "Ever since you said that it's just been something on my mind."

"But what about Crow?"

"What about him?"

"Don't you...love him, too?"

"I can't," I whispered, shaking my head. I tossed my cigarette to the ground and stomped on it with my boot, grounding it into the cement. "He's a demon and I'm, well."

"A demon hunter?"

I laughed, nodding. "Practically."

Blondie shrugged, turning to lean against the car to look at me. "He's a good man, I can tell whenever he's with you. I know he's done bad things but...he made you believe he killed Pandora to protect Ace."

"Maybe but he's been saying Ace is bad this whole time. He was right and I refused to believe it."

"He was trying to ease you into a hard truth, Blaire," she muttered. "Wouldn't you have done the same?"

She was right, of course, and I hated it. I hated how easy it was for her to compartmentalize all of this. When I told her what Ace had done, she looked defeated just for a moment before meeting my eyes and telling me what I've been hearing this whole time.

We'll kill him, okay? We'll kill him for what he did.

"We gotta get to the church," I muttered as I rounded the side of the car to open my door. I opened it with a tug and stopped, resting my hand on top of the door as I looked back towards the barn. The pain in the back of my head pounded again and for a moment all I could see was a hazy, foggy red coating my vision.

My hand fumbled against the door and I felt my leg give out beneath me. I barely felt my knee hit the pavement as red painted my hands. It was coating them, the second time tonight I've seen nothing but red and pain.

It felt as if something had struck me in the head, disorienting me enough to get me to the ground. It was sharp, piercing through my skull as something cold sliced me across my throat and I had to breathe deeply in through my nose to remember that this wasn't real. There was no knife gliding across my neck, there was no blood coating my hands or my vision. It was my mind, exhausted from fighting all night.

I knew what it was and it wasn't my paranoid thoughts built into my brain by John. I had seen her the night I almost died and that wasn't a coincidence. I knew that if I hadn't seen her, I would've been beyond saving. She'd grabbed hold of me that night and tempted me with absolution just so I could go running the way I'd come. She knew me better in death than in life.

"Why don't you come and find me?" a soft voice whispered and I could've recognized her easily. I could've recognized her just by sound and smell and touch. "I'm right here, Red, just open your eyes–"

When the red faded and I could breathe easily again without the hitch in my chest, I met Blondie's worried eyes as she knelt in front of me. She was speaking but there was this rush raging inside my ears that took a few extra seconds to die away before I could hear her properly.

"–alright? Hey, Blaire, you okay?"

I nodded, leaning over to sit down and get off my knees. I reached up and wiped sweat from my brow, the night air feeling crisper as I breathed in and out. "Yeah, yeah, I'm...I'm good."

"What the hell just happened?" she asked, holding out a hand to help me stand. I took her hand and she hauled me to my feet, easing me to the car so I could lean against the door.

"Pandora," I murmured, shaking my head. "What John told us...he was right. I knew he was right when he was telling me and I just–" I shook my head. "I saw her, the night I got shot, I saw her."

"So, you think she just..." Blondie smiled softly. "...walked into your body?"

I nodded. "I think she helped save me." I shrugged quickly because I really didn't know. "I got shot, I made it to the cabin, and then I saw her. We were walking towards this–this white light and then I was back in my body."

"You really think it's her and not John just messing with you?" she asked and I didn't know.

I couldn't answer her question so I pulled open the car door and said instead, "Let's get to the church unless you want to keep standing here until the police come our way?"

She rolled her eyes as she walked around the car but she couldn't hide her grin from me. "As if the police would question me. I'm not the one seeing ghosts and ranting about demons and dead classmates."

I grinned at her as I got into the car but it didn't stop the way I still felt like I had this pit in my stomach. Pandora was here, I was certain. John couldn't manipulate me this way, not when I'd seen her. Not when she still felt so real to me.

It was the only explanation why she hadn't come to see me when she knew I could. Pandora would've come to me, she would've. I repeated the notion in my head as if that would take away my doubt, as if that would make up for my fear. But fear was always stronger, it always would be.

~

The Clandestine Church was dark when we pulled into the small parking lot by the back door. We turned our lights off as we rolled up, hoping that if Macabre was truly inside, he wouldn't see us arriving. I had a good feeling he was there, somewhere in the basement office, because I had seen a single car in the lot across the street. If that wasn't him, we were screwed. It wasn't like we knew where he lived.

I was surprised to find out that Blondie could pick locks. The side door was locked and she got to work before I could open my mouth. It seemed there were things about her I would still grow to learn every day. From her fierceness to her stubbornness to her investigative skills, she was a book of new knowledge.

Inside, we crept slowly through the hall and I had to look back and continuously murmur to Blondie to walk softer. The floor creaked underneath our feet and it creaked even louder when we opened the door to the basement and stepped down onto the first stair.

We got halfway down when we heard noise, the sound of a door opening slowly. I had to hold out my hand to stop Blondie from going further as we sucked in a breath. The church was eery to begin with but something about lurking here in the dark made everything so much worse. Darkness brought out something worse in all of us.

"Hello?" a voice called out and I had to breathe quietly to ease my heart. My head pounded in my skull and I had to present myself to the man as calmly and as carefully as I could. "Who's there?"

I held up both my hands and continued down the stairs as a light flipped on in the basement. "I'm unarmed," I said loudly enough for the man to hear without startling him. When I reached the bottom step, I met the dark gaze of Victor Macabre standing in the doorway of Crow's office. "We need to talk–"

The older man was faster than I could've ever realized. One second he was standing in the doorway and the next he had me pinned against the morgue freezers against the wall, his arm thrust against my windpipe.

I tried to push him back but his body was pressed against mine, keeping me from hitting back at him. I wheezed against his grip and got out a choking, "What the hell are you doing?!"

He leaned forward and I forgot how dark his eyes were as he glared. "Pretty brave to come here, Blaire Lake. Tell me, why are you here?"

Blondie stood frozen on the steps, her hands clamped to her mouth and I darted my eyes away from her and back at Macabre as I grunted. "Crow's–gone."

This alone eased up his arm against me, just enough for me to catch a breath without struggling. He didn't back away, only loosened his grip as he frowned. "What do you mean? He messaged me only a couple hours ago. What happened?"

"John," I muttered as he dropped his arm. I rubbed my neck with a scowl. "John took him."

"John?" Macabre laughed. "You mean little John Walker?"

"John's, like, a criminal mastermind," said Blondie as she took a few steps down the stairs to level with us. She kept her back to the wall and far enough from Macabre that he couldn't grab at her with his arm outstretched. "He's the devil, sir."

Macabre glanced at her for just a moment before looking back at me with a frown. "The devil?"

I nodded. "I know it sounds crazy but...but John took him, he killed Dr. Hex and he took Crow–"

"Hex is dead?"

I nodded for a second time. "We found his body at the barn, the police were getting there when we left."

' "Do they know of your involvement?" he asked as he took a large step away from me to run both hands over his head.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "We left an anonymous tip and left as soon as we could but, Victor, Crow's gone. We summoned him and–and he broke the seal on the trap and took Crow."

"I knew John had been missing, off with that delinquent Dolion," he muttered, his brows furrowing, "Crow had told me as much. But what you're saying now is that John Walker is the devil? How?"

"What do you mean how?" snapped Blondie. "Isn't it obvious? The asshole possessed him when you guys were on your summoning highs a few years back!"

"She's right," I whispered, feeling slightly more at ease in the basement now that Macabre had stopped being on the offensive. "When you used my blood in one of your summoning rituals, it worked but you just didn't know. He's been playing you for years, he infiltrated your ranks and you didn't have a clue."

"And what am I supposed to do about it?" he snapped. "If John has Crow, he's a dead man. The devil doesn't like to wait."

"He's been waiting for five years, he can wait five more if he has too."

Macabre sighed, rubbing his forehead as if he had a headache. "Crow is my best friend, we've known each other for a very long time." He squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose before letting out a slow breath and meeting my gaze. "What do you need me to do?"

"John is preparing for war," I said. "Him and Ace and Conner and whoever else he has on his payroll, they want me dead and with my death something horrible happens. We need to stop them, we need to get Crow back, or they're going to kill us all."

"And?"

"And," I sighed, "I need to know how to fight." I rubbed my arm with another sigh as I murmured, "I can't just go on luck anymore. John has my knife, I'm defenseless. I need to be able to protect myself long enough to get away."

"And why do you think I won't just kill you instead?" he asked. "If you don't have your knife, you're fair game to even demons like me."

"Because you know Crow cares for me," I said, hoping it were the truth and that he'd expressed himself to his friend, "and if you kill me, he'll kill you."

"You got three Morticianers killed, what makes you think you won't be able to take our Conner or Ace?" he asked. "John is a different story entirely, but Ace and Conner can't be that hard."

"You don't know Ace like I do," I murmured, "or Conner. I barely got away with my life when I killed Tobias, I won't stand a chance against them if they're as powerful as I think they are."

Macabre rubbed his jaw. "When Tobias defected, I thought he was bluffing. I didn't understand how much he truly cared for Michael and Jeb."

"They were brothers," I muttered, "and when I killed them, I killed a part of him. It was only fair."

Macabre nodded slowly before his eyes fluttered to Blondie. "Are you looking to fight, too? Willing to risk your life?"

Blondie stared at him with hard set eyes before she nodded.

"Are you sure?" urged Macabre. "You don't want to back out now while you can?"

"Hell no," she snapped. "I'm in this as much as you are and I'm not going to back down because some old guy is telling me too." She looked at me with a determined smile. "Believe me, if you'd asked me that a few months ago I would've run away screaming but I know what's at stake. We've both lost too much, I won't let those assholes take anymore."

I smiled. "Then it's settled. You'll help us learn how to fight and take down John."

"We kill the devil," said Blondie with a smile, "and all his creepy little followers."

"God, I can't believe I'm agreeing to this," he muttered, shaking his head weakly. "We'll start your training tomorrow, meet here."

I grinned softly. I hadn't thought he would've agreed so quickly but it seemed we both had the same goal. Kill John and save Crow.

He began to walk back to Crow's office and he said over his shoulder, "Go home and get some sleep, we've got a long couple weeks ahead of us."

He had no idea how right he was.

~

We arrived at the cabin later that night. My head was heavy with exhaustion as I opened the front door and stepped inside. I walked into the living room and turned on one of the lamps, the light casting an orange-yellow glow to the room as I plopped down on the couch to rub my forehead.

From the kitchen, I could hear Blondie pouring a glass of water before her feet crossed the room and she was leaning against one of the chairs in front of me. She took a long sip of her water as I ran through everything I knew in my head like some frantic list of horror after horror.

Crow was gone, John was the devil, Ace killed Pandora, Dr. Hex was dead, Pandora could be inside of me, and Macabre was on our side, which happened to be the only brightside to everything going on. It felt like this day had been a year and we hadn't taken a moment to sit and think or sleep. It just kept going, spiraling out of control with the next gut wrenching realization.

Blondie broke the silence moments later. "Want something to eat?"

I looked up from my lap and met her eyes. "Uh," I sighed, rubbing my forehead, "yeah, we still have leftovers, right?"

She nodded with a faint smile and headed towards the kitchen. I waited a second, rubbing my face until my skin was warm, before I stood and followed her. She had the container of spaghetti out on the counter and handed me a fork as I leaned against the island. She twirled her fork in the food and brought it to her mouth and chewed just once before her eyes lit up and her sighed.

"We're gonna have to tell Luke what happened," she said in between chewing. She stuck her fork back into the container and quickly said, "I don't know if he'll be happy we basically signed him up for self defense classes."

"He'll have fun," I murmured before chuckling because I knew there wouldn't be any fun to be had. It was work.

She continued to eat as I got my own helping into my mouth before she was speaking again with a curious look in her eyes. "You know what I just don't get about all of this?"

"What?"

"How Ace and John could've been out in the woods with Conner and then in the barn with Pandora to kill her," she said. "They beat you there because like you said, she was already dead when you got there. And if they were summoned to the barn, then who summoned them?"

"I hadn't even thought of that," I muttered as I reached over the island to get more spaghetti. It was better cold than I would've thought. I chewed slowly as I thought over what Blondie had said. It was definitely possible they were summoned, well, it was the only possibility. There was no way they could've gotten from the middle of the woods to the barn before me when I was driving nearly at the speed of light. "John probably has a dozen people working for him, one of them must've summoned them there."

"You know..." said Blondie giving me a small smile. "We could try to summon Crow."

I nearly inhaled my noodle. "Huh?" I coughed, reaching for her glass of water.

"We could summon him."

We could bring him home.

"Could it really be that easy?" I whispered after taking a sip from her drink. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand with a small laugh, a breath of sudden realization that maybe not all hope was lost. Maybe we still had a fighting chance.

Blondie matched my smile. "There's only one way to find out." She pulled the container of spaghetti towards her as she shrugged, "Besides, it worked for the devil so I'm sure it'll work for Crow." She met my eyes with a shimmer newfound of hope. "How hard could it be?"

eeee first real chapter for the last act....crying. this story is my baby ahhhh

hope you guys liked this, def just a filler oops. but pls pls dont b a ghost reader!!! <3333