Spade 10:3

Through the blur the body of a woman lying on the ground covered in blood flickers into existence right in front of me like single frames out of an old movie reel. "Jessica, I'm sorry", I whisper as her image flickers a few more times and then is gone.

I shake my head from side to side, squeezing my eyes shut as I try to bring the world back into focus. The pain seems to be fading away as I reopen my eyes but that can't be right, I'm losing too much blood. I'm going into shock; that must be the reason.

My right hand starts to burn and I can feel him pushing at the back of my mind. The scars left by the deal I made with him, my 'branding' as he refers to it, ache. I can feel the warm, smooth wood of that phantom pistol in my hand once again and it comforts.

He pushes me closer to the edge.

My resistance isn't what it was a few weeks ago. Hell not even fifteen minutes ago. Was that really her or is he making me see ghosts? Well, it wouldn't be the first time.

I push myself up on to just my knees and what is left of the blood still in my body rushes away from my brain. Light headed, dizzy… wee!

Heh, almost passed out there, I have to stay focused.

A lack of energy causes my head to roll forward and through the top of my field of vision I can see it making its way closer to me. Gracefully lumbering forward like a cat confident it has cornered its prey.

He pushes…

I can sense the other one behind me as the one that kicked me stops almost within arm’s reach. It's holding one of the restraint collars in its clawed hand, my old one it looks like. With those glowing runes etched in its stone surface, yeah it must be.

I can't go back…

He can feel my desperation, it's feeding him and he pushes harder this time… so I jump.

With an energy and speed I didn't think I had left in me I lung towards its legs. It is startled, but not fast enough to move away and I clamp my right hand around what should be its ankle. The scars on that hand and arm start to glow white with increasing intensity, etching out arcane symbols that burn my skin, and in my mind I feel him revel in his victory over me. It tries to pull away but my grip seems to be fuzzed in place. I can feel its life draining away, into me, its very soul being stolen away by my touch. The sensation is intoxicating and he bathes in it. Then the white hot fire that burned only from my scars seconds before spreads out through my hand and engulfs the creature in a flash of bluish-white fire. I can release my grip now, so I do and push myself as far away from the thing as I can but, with the car right behind me it was pointless. The creature lets loose a howl so horrific that my stomach starts to convulse and images of maggot covered corpses flood my brain. Then the fire blinks out and the creature is gone, only ashes blown away by the driving winds of the hurricane still ragging.

I can see the wind blowing the trees and power lines around but, I can't feel it anymore. Just like when it picked me up. How’s this possible?

"You've absorbed some of its power by consuming its soul. Now, you will see what can be done with it."

I feel a clawed hand grab me by the hair and throw me like a ragdoll over a truck ten feet to my left.

Man, I'm really tired of being tossed around like some old toy a three year old thinks can fly. As I drag myself up I can see the remaining creature in all its horror. Still ten feet away and on the other side of the truck it tossed me over. I guess it is because I absorbed the other ones soul but, now I can see the true form of the creatures that were chasing me.

What I thought was a cloak or duster of some sort was, in reality, wings. Like those of an enormous bat. It had folded them around itself like a cloak. Well not anymore. They were spread wide and must be twenty feet from tip to tip. It was humanoid, bipedal, but its head and face looked like an octopus had sat on its shoulders and let its tentacles hang down the thing's chest. Black orb eyes protruded from the sides of the bulbous head and I swear you could see it’s hatred for me in them. Its fingers were like bird talons, gnarled and tipped with a sharp claw at the end. The tentacles on its chest spread apart from the middle as a large bird like beak pushed forward from where its throat should have been. The beak like mouth opened and a horrid wail pierced through the sounds of the hurricane.

My knees went weak and fear gripped me. It charged with its beak open, clawed hands extended forward and its wings curling back.

I felt a familiar weight on my right hip. I reach down to find my pistol, the pistol that ruined my life. And I drew. It was almost like instinct, a trained skill the years in the military honed into me.

I fired…

Energy drained from me as the bullet left the barrel in a blaze of blue Hellfire. The bullet struck the creature in the mass of tentacles that covered its chest, surprise registering in those cold black eyes. I staggered slightly from the feeling of the energy drained by firing the gun itself. The creature screamed in what could only be pain and fell to a knee.

"Shit, if I have to do that again there is no way I'm not going to pass out right where I stand", I thought to myself as it rose back to its feet.

It started for me again and I raised the barrel of my pistol, fired and felt the energy pass from me into the bullet. This bullet struck it in the stomach, or at least what would be the stomach of a normal man. God only knows what this thing has there, but it must have been enough because it turned and ran the other direction flapping its wings and lifted off into the night sky.

"That's good", I thought to myself as my vision dimmed and my knees gave out to my weight. My last thought as my body crumpled on to the asphalt was, "How did I get my gun and belt back?"

Spade 10:2

I try to run but the wind picks up with a fury that matches my desperation.

Damn, even the elements are against me.

I feel the wind clawing at me trying to get a grip, like thousands of ghostly hands frantically pulling me away from my shelter. And then it does. Like a rag doll I am lifted off my feet and pushed by the sheer power of Mother Nature some thirty feet through the air into the side of an abandoned car.

Pain shoots through my body and I hear his snake-like voice slithering its way through, "I can make it stop. Just release me and you can walk out of here. You don't have to do this alone."

I shove his goading aside and through the howling wind I can hear the faint sound of wood splintering and the cry of steel bending as I watch a massive billboard sign that says "Jesus Saves" come crashing down on the very spot that I was standing at only a moment before the wind decided to relocate me.

I look at the billboard. Where were you the last time I needed you? I think to myself.

"Where, indeed?"

His mocking tone makes my stomach turn.

CRACK!
Lightning flashes and lights up the entire area and I can see one of them standing between me and the collapsed billboard. His leathery cloak looking almost untouched by the gusting winds.

There were two of them. There are always two of them, they travel in pairs. I look around in a panic. Where is the other one? Then, I feel a clawed hand come from behind me, tighten around my throat and squeeze the breath from it.

Now I know! It lifts me off the ground and turns me to face it. The nails of its leathery hand dig into my neck and I can feel a searing pain spread outward from them. Poison? It must be seeping into my skin from its grip.

Some things different, I can no longer feel the wind or hear the raging storm like I could only moments ago. I know it's still there though, the trees are still whipping around and the street lights are swinging violently. Tons of lose debris swirls around us as it lifts me closer, to a face so distorted and grotesque I suppress the urge to wretch.

My spine straightens with small cracks and pops that reverberate through my body as my full weight is lifted from the ground. Should I tell it how much I needed to have my back popped?

It speaks with a voice that sounds like someone continuously crumpling paper. Its breath carries on it the stench of decay and molded dirt.

"You will come back with us to finish what was started"

"I am finished", I proclaim as defiantly as I can muster but, with its hand around my throat I sounded rather pathetic.

But still. He didn't like that, I laugh to myself as my body slams down on the pavement and once again I can hear and feel the full force of the storm. Ow, pain... when... I breathe. I must have cracked a rib when I landed.

I look up to see the creature step down from the hood of the car is was perched on, the same one that the wind had thrown me into only minutes before. It's massive body blocking out the maelstrom behind it.

Moving quicker than I could imagine for its size, it steps forward and kicks me in the chest. I go flailing into the air only to be caught by the wind and slammed back down on the asphalt.

My ribs are defiantly broken now. Pain spreads out from almost every nerve ending in my body at once. I feel my mental antagonist recoil to the back of my mind, he must have felt it too…

I can taste that familiar coppery flavor flooding my mouth as I cough up too much blood for there not to be something seriously wrong with my insides. I've got to get up, they can't take me back. They'll just use me, or rather you, like a weapon again if they put that suppression collar back around my neck.

“Good times again!”

I press myself up on all fours and see that my hands are in a pool of my own blood.

Not again. Not like last time, I think as my concentration starts slipping. My vision blurs.

“You have no choice. You’ll have to fight them if you want to live. Why don’t you loosen my bonds or just set me free. There’s no need to burden yourself with all this worry and guilt, Its not your fault what happened back then, you had no control over your situation. I can make the pain go away. ”

Spade 10:1

Lightning streaked across the sky like skeletal hands reaching out for anything they could wrap their electrifying grip around. The rain came down hard in transparent sheets that resembled curtains blowing in a light breeze. The wind, however, was a different story. A hurricane rolled in off the Gulf and took both them and me by surprise. It just might have saved my life though. Assuming it doesn't decide to kill me now after all.

They have been following me for days, some sort of demonic bloodhounds. If they catch up to me they’ll drag me back so I've got to keep moving, even in this mess. I'm too tired and worn out to fight them right now and if they catch me it will all happen again. And I will never let any of it happen again.

"Yes. You will ."

I push the voice to the back of my mind and lock it up as best I can.

"So Weak…"

Was that my thought or his?

I'm slowly going mad and he knows it, I can feel him relish every little slip of my psyche as I gradually fall prey to his will.

Another bolt snakes across the sky and I can vaguely see one of them slip behind a building a couple hundred yards away. They are closer than I thought. I've got to move. I'll wait till the next lightning strike, hopefully the bright flash of light will blind them long enough for me to make a break for that building down the street. So I cover my eyes with my hands and wait.

CRACK! Run. 

Staying low I move from car to car trying to stay out of site. I'm almost there. My legs buckle as I make it to the door. I'm so tired. 

Shit! The doors locked and the wind is picking up again. I look back, through the hundreds of mostly abandoned cars, some still with there passengers starring lifelessly out the shattered windows. Burned shells that now litter the streets in every direction.

FLASH!

I shielded my eyes almost to late from the lightning but I can still see them. Two massive cloaked figures that remind me of wraiths in some old horror movie. They're just standing there in the rain; still a couple hundred yards away.

Have they seen me?

"Yes…"

No, not yet I've still got time. I've got to hurry, I dive around the corner of the building and I hear their gut wrenching wail, my skin crawls. They did see me.

"Of Course they did...," He laughs at me.

I feel my right hand instinctively grope at my upper right thigh for my revolver and instantly remember that I hadn’t had time to get it when my chance to escape came. I only had time to run.

“How Pathetic…”

His banter is slowly making me crazy and really angry.

Shut up, I mentally scream at him, just shut up!

"You will have to fight. You will have to kill them if you don't want to go back and be used again. I'm… more than willing to go back but, I’m stuck with you. Trapped in you till I can find a way out, and when I do you’ll wish you never made that deal with me."

I wish all the time I never made that deal with you. After seeing what you used me to do while I was trapped only able to watch, kinda like you are now. I’ll never let you out as long as I still breathe.

“Well that might be a long hard road boy; cause, as long as I’m a part of you… You’ll never die!”

A Little Rewrite

Well, I kinda wasn't happy with a few things I had written so far so I figured with the new blog I'd do a little rewriting before I re-posted everything. I tweaked a few things here and there and added a little more description to some parts, over all I just tried to tighten the story up a little. So here are chapters 1 through 3 as I have them right now. Four will be up some time tomorrow, I hope, and a new chapter by the end of next week. Anyway hope you like'em.