Makayla Richberg (makknows) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-03-30 11:01:00 |
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Entry tags: | #group scene, #october 2017, caius, hunter, mak, reagan, sabrina |
Who: Hunter, Mak, Sabrina, Reagan, Caius
What: Bad things
Where: Oakwood Lane and onward
When: After midnight, Saturday 10/14
Status: Complete, Part 2
Warning: Language, violence, bad things, slurs
It didn't take them very long to get there with how fast Sabrina drove. She was trying to be careful, to keep her eyes open for any cops that might be driving by. But fate was on their side tonight, and Sabrina pulled into the small neighborhood, looking around as if Reagan Kelly's house would suddenly have some kind of light from Heaven shining down on it. "Which one?" she asked Mak breathlessly.
Part of Mak kind of hoped for a cop. She knew rationally that they would sound like nutjobs who had just kidnapped someone, and she was sure that the demon inside of Hunter would play that angle if someone else got involved, but there was still a childlike part of her that trusted in authority. That insisted if they could just find the right adult, all of this would be taken care of. She hoped desperately that would be Reagan. “Uh ...” Mak checked her phone again and read the house number off to Sabrina, then started squinting around them to look for it. “There, that one!” she exclaimed when they got close, rapidly patting Sabrina’s arm as she pointed. “On the left. Ohgod, I hope she’s home.” There were two cars in the driveway, so the odds were good, but you never knew.
Sabrina parked rather haphazardly behind one of the two cars in the driveway, and she didn't even care that she was blocking the sidewalk. It was late enough that she doubted anyone was out taking a casual stroll. She turned off the car and swallowed hard before looking at Mak. "Leave him where he is until we know what she can do, if anything. If she can't help, we have to... I don't know, take him to Father Dean or whatever." At least they had something of a back up plan. Sabrina turned off the car and got out, feeling nervous but determined as she walked up to Reagan's front door. She could see a light on inside, for which she was thankful. People were less likely to be in the mood to help with anything when they were woken up in the middle of the night. Sabrina glanced at Mak before pushing the doorbell.
Reagan and Caius hadn't gone to bed just yet, having stayed up to research some of the cemetery plots to pinpoint exactly where Abigail Baron and her family was buried, just to map out their options in case something went wrong. After awhile, Caius disappeared upstairs to shower and Reagan started cleaning up the kitchen from dinner. The doorbell startled her and she turned off the sink to listen. It was possible it was just some asshole kids going around to ring doorbells and run off, but Reagan had had visitors this late before - usually desperate people in need of a spell or something that couldn't wait. When a loud, frantic knock followed, Reagan dried her hands on the dish towel and headed for the front of the house. She peered out the peep hole to see two young women standing on her porch. One she recognized as Sebastian McCarthy's friend.
Unlocking the door, Reagan opened it and lifted a brow as she studied them both. They looked pale and scared which had her sighing softly and stepping back to let them both inside. "What do you need?" Honestly, with teenagers, it could be anything.
Mak was so scared of what was in the trunk of the car, she didn’t have much room to be scared that they were ringing a witch’s doorbell in the middle of the night to beg for help. Reagan Kelly had helped Sabrina once before already, and Mak knew her face from around town ... but she was still a bit intimidating. She fought the urge to grab Sabrina’s hand as they both shuffled into Reagan’s house, tossing an uneasy glance back at the car. The trunk was still closed, and his hands and feet were bound, but that didn’t stop her from worrying that it would pop open and he would jump out and run somehow. “We need help,” Mak blurted. “Our friend, he’s -- he’s possessed or something.” She looked to Sabrina for help explaining, since she’d at least talked to Reagan before.
There was no 'or something'. It was just possessed, as far as Sabrina was concerned. But she looked at Reagan, knowing the woman would remember, because she had been the one to warn Sabrina about it. "The Ouija board," she explained, trying not to grimace. "The hex bags worked for the nightmares, but... it's in him, our friend. He's, ah, in the trunk right now because he attacked Mak, and... I thought about the priest, but he may not believe us, and I knew you would, and you said something about blood magic maybe being able to help..." Did that still ring true if the demon, or whatever it was, was inside someone? Would it hurt Hunter? Had they waited too long hoping it would just go away and now they were all fucked?
Reagan sighed and glanced outside toward the car. Some fucking demon was out there in her driveway. Honestly, teenagers and their idiocy sometimes. Reagan supposed she shouldn't be so judgmental. She had grown up aware of the dangers of summoning magic because of her family. Not everyone had her advantages. Licking her lips, Reagan debated internally for a moment before glancing up the stairs. "I'm not a strong enough witch to perform that kind of blood magic," Reagan said. She wasn't, as much as it killed her to admit it. Maybe one day she would be, but the kind of magic needed to essentially exorcise a demon was beyond her ability at the moment. It was the darkest kind of magic... "But I know someone who can," she murmured before stepping away to the bottom of the stairs. "Caius. Get dressed and come downstairs, please," she called before flipping off the porch light to keep nosy neighbors from seeing them. "Get in your car, turn off the headlights and drive it to the side of the house toward the back," she instructed Sabrina. "We'll bring him in the back door." Hopefully Caius would understand and be willing to help. It wasn't that Reagan was feeling terribly empathetic toward the two girls, but she didn't want a demon loose in town for obvious reasons.
Mak’s heart sank through the floor as Reagan started to tell them that she couldn’t help, and she almost cried with relief when the rest of it came out. She glanced toward the stairs herself, and then at Sabrina. Who was Caius? She supposed they were about to find out. “Thank you so much,” Mak said all in a rush and grabbed Sabrina’s hand to hurry out the door and go do as they were told. She hoped fiercely that they could actually get this fixed tonight and never have to worry about this bullshit again. She was absolutely dying to hug Hunter -- the real Hunter.
A moment after the girls left the house, Caius padded down the steps, pulling a shirt on over his head, his brow furrowed a bit. “What’s going on?” he asked Reagan. He’d just gotten out of the shower when he heard the doorbell, and was already halfway dressed when Reagan called to him. That was never a good sign. Visitors this late were always either bringing bad news or wanted something that wasn’t easy to get elsewhere.
Reagan shut the door after Mak and Sabrina departed, and she heard the car start up just as Caius was coming downstairs. Sighing, Reagan motioned for Caius to follow her. "Some teenagers fucked around with a Ouija board and summoned something that has been haunting them and has since taken up residence in the body of one of the boys." That was the gist, and all Caius really needed to know right now. Reagan unlocked the back doors and pulled them open before turning to look at Caius. "It's asking a lot of you, but they need your help getting rid of it without hurting the kid. What do you think?"
Caius moved to follow her without hesitating, his brow furrowing through the explanation. Gods, it was always something, wasn’t it? “For fuck’s sake,” he muttered at the back door, stepping out to watch the back bumper of the car appear around the corner of the house. He sighed and looked at his wife for a beat, then nodded. “Let’s have a look at him, I guess. I’ll see what I can do.” It wouldn’t be the first time he banished a demon, but it wasn’t an easy process, and some were stronger than others. Not something he’d been planning to do with his night, but hey, life was full of surprises, right?
Caius walked down off the back porch as the girls got out of the car and came around to the back. He gave them a brief once-over -- they looked terrified and worried, and while he didn’t exactly feel sorry for them, they looked to be about Sera’s age, and Caius had a soft spot for his sister. “Open it up, let me see,” he said, nodding to the girl who was clutching keys.
This hadn't been how Reagan wanted to spend the rest of her evening either. They'd had a long day and she was honestly looking forward to slipping into bed with her husband and just being able to relax. Doing something mundane and normal like watching television curled up against each other. But, now they had some teenagers on their door and a demon in the trunk and Reagan had no idea how long this would take. And she didn't want Caius hurt either, though she was sure he could handle this. If not, these girls would be dealing with much more than just an angry demon.
Sabrina was generally never intimidated by adults. She could get mouthy and sarcastic with them, because they didn't scare her. If she could survive her dad on a daily basis, she could handle just about anyone. But these two people intimidated her. They looked totally normal. An affluent, young couple with a nice fucking house. But knowing they were witches scared her. It didn't help that Sabrina felt like this was all her fault in the first place. She nodded at Caius and moved to unlock the truck, popping it open and stepping back in case Hunter had somehow gotten loose. "I've got the Ouija board in the back seat," she said breathlessly. "I've tried to get rid of it and it keeps coming back. I didn't know what to do."
For anyone who didn't know better it just looked like Mak and Sabrina had beaten up their friend and tied him up in the trunk. He even managed a wary look when the trunk opened, in case there were cops or anyone who might untie him and get those girls into trouble. It quickly became apparent that there were no cops, just that witch who had given Sabrina her protection bags and some guy he didn't recognize. Pretense be damned, he let his startled expression fade and smirked under the tape. He'd seen the magic Reagan did and while it was effective in protecting those idiot children he doubted it was strong enough to actually harm him. He was itching to say something, to mock them and entice them to hurt Hunter's body some more but that damn tape made it hard and the words came out all muffled. Rolling his eyes he struggled against his bonds some, then laughed again though it was a little strained.
The boy in the trunk looked like a rather normal boy, just dirty and taped up. Even the facial expressions he was making could’ve been fake, all of them in on some kind of prank. Caius didn’t have the experience with them to recognize a demon possession without assistance, but the Obscurities could. He called them forward internally, his eyes shifting to a full black as the world around him got bright as day and clear as a bell. The kid in the trunk changed too, a dark smudgy shadow billowing out around him, tendrils waving in an invisible breeze. His eyes glowed red. There was definitely a spirit in control of him that didn’t belong on this plane. Great. He blinked and his eyes returned to normal before he looked around at the girls. “Bring the Ouija board, let’s take him inside,” he said, giving them a grim nod. They were lucky to be alive. Caius reached for the boy, tugging him around with a grunt until he was in a good position to pick up. He wasn’t as heavy as a full grown adult would’ve been, but it still took effort to carry him up the porch and into the house.
Sabrina could barely breathe when she saw Caius's eyes go dark. She would have guessed he was a demon himself if he didn't seem so willing - or sort of willing - to help. Maybe he was a demon, or something like it. Jesus Christ, what the hell was going on in this stupid town? She sucked in a breath when he told her to get the board, and Sabrina licked her lips and quickly grabbed it from the back seat while Caius picked up Hunter to get him inside. He and Reagan seemed so unbelievably calm, and she wondered how many times they had done this.
Reagan followed Caius and the girls inside, locking the back doors behind her once she stepped into the house. She shut off the lights, not wanting any visibility for her neighbors to peer into the windows. Caius was taking Hunter down the hall to the room off the side of the house where she kept her work room. It was kept locked when she wasn't using it, and Reagan pushed past the girls to grab the key hidden behind a picture frame that hung on the wall by the door. She unlocked it and opened it for Caius and the two girls to enter. She really didn't like having strangers inside of it, but there wasn't much she could do about it right now. Reagan held out her hand for the Ouija board, which Sabrina handed over immediately. She studied it and lifted a brow, showing it to Caius. "It's authentic. I haven't seen one of these in a long time. If you manage to banish the demon, we should have enough time to destroy the board before he can attach himself to it again."
The demon did not like the sound of that and he started struggling again, attempting to kick the man that was carrying his body. It wasn't easy with his legs tied up but he could make it hard for him at least. He also started screaming this time, itching to throw insults at these mortal idiots. He should have stalled, he realized, though maybe they were all talk. He had until sunrise before he could leave this body and he knew about a million ways he could have fun with it - none of which included cocky witches who wanted to banish him.
Caius was having stupid thoughts about how he really needed to make time for the gym more often, because this fucking teenager was heavy by the time they reached Reagan’s work room. Then he started to squirm, and since they were pretty much where they needed to be, Caius just dropped him in a heap on the floor. He knew that was punishing the body he was inhabiting instead of the demon, but the kid was young, he’d heal, and it wasn’t like he hit his head or anything. Caius turned his attention to Reagan instead. “Can you burn it?” he asked her, nodding at the board. Reagan’s fire was more effective than mundane fire against magical objects, and if she could handle that part, Caius thought he could do the rest and they could take care of this problem tonight.
Mak winced at the loud sound Hunter’s body made when it hit the floor, feeling more tears well up in her eyes. Whatever was in him had tried to kill her and maybe rape her, yeah, but her best friend was still in there. She stuck close to Sabrina and as the witches talked amongst themselves, Mak snuck her hand out to grip her girlfriend’s. This room looked like serious business, like a real workshop or something, and she could see the ghosts of chalk circles on a big empty patch of hardwood floor. Mak didn’t know whether to be more scared or hopeful now.
Sabrina felt a little overwhelmed by everything. Hunter's dark sounding scream muffled by the tape, the "workshop" with... lots of jars and stuff Sabrina didn't recognize as anything she'd find in a hardware store. Reagan's little room at Belladonna was much prettier and... safer feeling. This place sort of freaked her out. She spotted some red streaks on a nearby wooden table. Was that blood? Sabrina clutched Mak's hand, her own palms sweaty from nerves. As much as she sort of wanted to just wait outside and let these two do their thing, Sabrina didn't want to abandon Hunter, and maybe she was a little curious as to what was about to happen.
Carrying the board to one of her tables, Reagan nodded and set it on a smooth surface before reaching for a jar of what looked like gray sand. "I can burn it. But I can't until the demon is completely removed from his body." The noises Hunter made caused Reagan to huff and she glared down at him for a second before looking at Caius. "Take the tape off his mouth. That will be less painful than extracting it elsewhere." She wondered vaguely if the Obscurities could kill the demon themselves, but she knew that would risk Hunter's life too, so she didn't suggest it.
“I will in a moment,” Caius murmured as he moved to start gathering his own supplies from Reagan’s shelves. Salt, candles, an assortment of herbs. He carried the jars and things and set them down along the edges of where he would draw the circle, then went back for more. As he did, he glanced over at where the two girls were still standing and felt a dull surprise, almost like he’d forgotten they were there. It was their friend writhing on the floor in the hands of a demon, but that didn’t give them the absolute right to still be present. “Both of you, out of the room,” he told them. “I don’t need your energy in here and it could try to latch onto one of you next.” That was vaguely possible, of course, he and Reagan were much more protected from such risks, but mostly Caius just didn’t want some mundane audience for this. It wasn’t an easy ritual, it would involve blood, and they didn’t need to see that.
Mak was torn right down the middle of wanting to stay and watch and wanting to be anywhere but there. All of this was scary, Reagan and her boyfriend or whoever he was looked all serious business and like they knew exactly what they were doing, like demon banishing happened all the time. She wasn’t sure if that was comforting or not. But at the same time, she didn’t want to leave Hunter alone with these people. What if they made it worse somehow? What if they killed him and just walked out like ‘oops’ or something? Not that Mak’s being present would make any difference, and the man’s order was pretty direct ... so she started to back up toward the door again, tugging on Sabrina’s hand to come with her. They could stand at the door and listen at least, right?
"Wait, what? No, what if something happens to him?" Sabrina asked, looking between Caius and Reagan. "You might need... need help!" She had the same concerns that Mak did. What if Hunter needed them there, or these witches accidentally killed him? She remembered Reagan telling her that blood magic would be the only way to get rid of this demon, beyond religious intervention, but did that mean Hunter's blood? As badly as she wanted Reagan and Caius to help them, she couldn't help but be wary of leaving them alone with Hunter.
Reagan felt a surge of impatience and she set the glass jar down on the table and turned to Sabrina. "Get out, or you can take him somewhere else for help," she said simply, though her tone left no room for argument. They were using their resources and time for free to help their friend. Reagan had no patience for teenage girls who didn't understand the process. She and Sabrina stared at one another for a split second longer before Sabrina turned away to follow Mak out the door, closing it behind them. Reagan exhaled and glanced at Caius before going back to sprinkling the sand over the entire surface of the board. When that was finished, she turned back to Caius. "What do you need from me?"
The thing within Hunter was scared now. He didn't need to be a powerful demon to recognize powerful magic and this room was full of it. This was nothing like that pretty little shop with its pretty little herbs and protections, this was dark and dark could hurt him. The witch seemed to know what he was doing too, or else he might have just hoped that they accidentally killed his host and he could watch from the sidelines at the mess that followed. He squirmed where he lay on the floor, shifting around so he could sit and pushed himself back a little, glaring up at the two witches. Maybe they would accept a bargain, witches were powerhungry cunts, there was still a chance he could get out of this alive - if they took that damn tape off his mouth.
While Reagan dealt with the stubborn girl, Caius dug a few more ingredients off of the shelves, his lips moving as he whispered reminders to himself. It had been a while since he’d done something like this, but luckily his memory was sharp, especially under pressure. He tugged his shirt off since it was long-sleeved and he would need some of his own blood -- cutting hands was so needlessly painful, so he didn’t do palms unless he had to -- and grabbed one of Reagan’s ceremonial knives. Caius tucked it into his belt and circled around behind the demon child. “Cast an extra layer of protection up once I close the circle,” he told Reagan as he grabbed Hunter’s body by the arms and dragged him backward on his ass to the center of the room. It was a consecrated space already, and it was about to get even more so. He shot his wife a meaningful look. “And don’t let them interrupt me even if he gets loud.”
Before he took the tape off, Caius wanted to make sure the demon was bound in a circle, since he didn’t quite know what he was dealing with yet. He took the chalk and drew it around the both of them, lit the candles at the four compass points, calling to each element to lend their assistance. It wasn’t as ornate and thorough as he would’ve liked, but this was a short-notice deal. He didn’t have all day to prepare. Caius kneeled in front of the demon, able to read the rage and fear in his eyes clear as a bell. He nodded to Reagan to do her thing, and once they were sheathed in two times the protective magic to keep the demon in the circle even if he bailed on the host, Caius reached out and ripped the duct tape off of his mouth. He blinked and let his eyes go black again so he could see this asshole for what he really was. “Tell me your name,” Caius said evenly. This would all be much easier with a name.
Reagan stayed out of Caius's way, but locked the door just in case the two girls tried to come back inside. She was prepared to step in and help if things got out of hand, but Reagan knew Caius could handle this. This particular demon didn't appear very strong to her, at least not physically. With the protective spell around Caius and the demon, Reagan stood back, her hands clasped calmly together in front of her. It was a bit jarring to see Caius's eyes go black again, but it was merely a sign of how powerful he was becoming. Still, she inhaled softly, her fingers curling more tightly into her hands. Gods, she hoped this was taken care of quickly. It was already a major annoyance. Demons were such assholes. She preferred them much more when she was in control of them.
He no longer needed the boy's mouth to speak, that much was obvious when Caius's eyes went black. The witch could see him and probably hear him too so he arched in closer to him, nothing but shadow tendrils with red eyes. His own voice was easier to control but it was a great deal harder to listen to, which just made it even better for him and he hoped it hurt the witch's ears. "I will not make it easy for you," he said, like nails on a chalkboard. "Why would I? You want to banish me? You work for it." The shadow flickered, wrapping around Hunter's head before slipping closer to Caius again. "Unless we work together, hmm?"
The voice almost immediately started up a lowkey headache behind Caius’s eyes, but he gave no sign that it bothered him. These types of spirits were so fucking arrogant, it was in his best interest not to give an inch. He smiled instead, coldly amused. “Please. As if you have anything to offer me,” he said. Caius hadn’t actually expected the demon to give up his name, but there was no harm in asking, right? In spite of the challenge, he wouldn’t have to work very hard to put this one back where it came from, he could tell already.
The demon moved from attempts to bargain into shrieking, which was ear-splitting, but staying calm through this was important. He’d dealt with worse distractions. Caius got up and walked around the circle, picking up the jars of herbs one by one to sprinkle them around inside the chalk line. He picked up a small empty glass vial and crouched in front of the demon again. Caius pulled the knife out of his belt and made a small cut on his upper left arm to get the blood flowing. He’d been vaguely concerned that the incantation wouldn’t come to him and he would have to have Reagan bring him a book, but as he reached for Hunter it started to flow easily out of his mouth, the Latin words still calm and crisp. They were hard to hear over the inhuman noise the demon was making, but all that mattered was that he said them. Caius tugged the struggling boy’s shirt collar down and made another small cut right under his collarbone, holding the vial up to catch some of the blood that welled out of it. He could feel the Obscurities getting more active inside of him, swirling around, excited by the magic that was starting to flow. Caius added some of his own blood to the vial, then sprinkled some salt into it and gently shook it up.
Dealing with dark entities of any kind was always dangerous, but Reagan could tell Caius was feeling calm, like this was something as simple as a protection spell. It could turn bad so quickly, and Reagan was obviously alert and prepared if it did, but she couldn't help but feel a little excitement of her own as soon as Caius cut into his skin. It wasn't that she got off on bloodletting, but there was something about Caius doing it that got her heart racing. It was the power that he projected, so much stronger now than it had been six months ago. Usually it would trigger Reagan's competitive spirit, but now she was just in awe of him. Reagan stepped back toward the work table, preparing to destroy the board as soon as Caius drew the demon out of Hunter's body. The kid was going to be scarred, physically and emotionally, for awhile, but at least he would be alive.
The shadow was shrieking more loudly now and it hadn't stopped talking at all, rapidly moving away from promises and appeasing to outright threats. He would see Caius in hell where he would rip his flesh apart, over and over again over the next centuries, there was no peace for a witch in the afterlife, especially one who fucked with demons. When Caius started the ritual the screams became wordless, a mix of Hunter's voice and the demon's wails which cut into Caius's ears and sent the things within the protective circle spinning. It was as if the frequency of that horrible sound could cut through physical objects and while Caius was already bleeding from his own cuts, new ones started forming on his face and neck, like something small and sharp kept whipping against him.
It was impossible not to feel the stinging pain from the psychic attacks, but Caius had long ago learned to use pain as a focus. It was something of a necessity when one practiced blood magic. He did look annoyed by it though, gritting his teeth through a few of the words as he continued his incantation louder. One cut landed right below his eye and he squeezed both shut for a moment, not allowing his mouth to stop. If he cut off the flow of words, he would be in more trouble. The Obscurities were rioting inside, desperate to be set loose to consume and destroy this threat, and while it was very tempting in the moment, Caius was attempting to save this kid, not kill him.
He swiped some more of his blood up on two fingers to draw a gylph on the floor between them, then used the blood from the vial to draw an X on Hunter’s forehead. Which wasn’t easy, considering how the demon seemed determined to give the boy whiplash, but Caius managed. He commanded the evil spirit in Latin to leave that body and never return to this realm. It was kind of beautiful, the way the shadow-tendrils flailed about like they were caught up in a violent wind, and for a second the red glowing eyes were blinding to Caius. Then the shadows were torn off of Hunter’s body as though ripped upward by some unseen hand, and the boy slumped limply to one side. Caius could see the demon hovering over them, full of rage and still screaming. “Now, Reagan!” he shouted over it.
It was difficult for Reagan to stay out of the way, especially once the demon began to attack Caius, causing slices in his skin that reminded her in a sick way of what she'd done to him that day in the fog. But she stayed rooted to the spot, breathing heavily as Caius fought with the dark entity, continuing his ritual without missing a beat despite the pain he was probably in. If she rushed to help him, she could fuck everything up - and she wouldn't be ready to destroy the board at just the right moment. The inhuman screams were loud, causing Reagan to grimace from the grating sound, but as soon as Caius yelled for her, she placed her hands on the board, her palms heating the gray sand she'd covered it in earlier.
She focused, closing her eyes as the fire licked through her, building in intensity until she thrust it forth from her hands. The board went up in white and blue flames, its wood crackling as it blackened and curled inward. Reagan stepped back, fascinated at how the board seemed to shrivel and curl into itself, as if it had been a living, breathing thing. The dark shadow of the demon seemed to grow louder and Reagan covered her ears from the godawful noise until the shadow seemed to explode into nothing, sending the room into merciful silence but for their heavy breathing. Reagan slowly lowered her hands from her ears and stepped up to the table to check on the board. It continued to burn, but the flames were lower now as the wood became ash on her work table. "It's gone," she told Caius before moving over to the circle to check on the two men. "Are you okay?"
The timing couldn’t have been better. The demon’s unholy noise made Caius’s head feel like it was going to split open, but that just made it all the more satisfying when the goddamn thing shattered overhead into nothing but wisps of shadow, and then disappeared completely. He didn’t know if destroying the Ouija board had killed it, or if it was just sent back to whatever dimension it came from, but it was gone and that was the important thing. Caius blinked rapidly to clear his vision, pushing the Obscurities back down into dormancy, and his eyes were normal again when he turned them on Reagan. He was bleeding from all over, it felt like, cuts and scratches on his neck and face and chest, but their sting was dull.
“Yeah, I think so,” he murmured, glancing down at himself. He was a mess, that shower earlier had been a waste, but whatever. Caius moved, then let out a little hiss as a backlash cut over the back of his shoulder blade made itself known. His amulet had absorbed most of it, of course, but this wasn’t the kind of magic he could get away with scot-free. Caius got to his feet, murmured ‘I thank and release you,’ to the elements and rubbed off part of the chalk and herbs with his foot to break the circle so Reagan could come into it. There was a frantic sort of knocking on the door from the girls outside, and Caius nodded to it as he moved closer to the boy to help him up and cut the bindings off of his hands and feet. “Let them back in, I guess. Before they break the damn door down.”
With the entity gone and nothing keeping him asleep, Hunter woke up. It was hard to stay asleep when his body hurt as much as it did and he caught the last of the screaming noise before the demon evaporated. Waking up was in no way slow or pleasant as he jolted into consciousness, terrified and disoriented. The air smelled weird, his whole body hurt and there was someone in front of him he didn't recognize. His first thought was that he'd been kidnapped and was about to be killed and he kicked himself backwards with a little whimper. "What-" he started, but was there any use asking a crazy person what was going on? His back hit a wall and he curled up in on himself, looking around frantically. Fight or flight, neither seemed like an option when he was tied up. His ears were ringing and there was so much noise still that screaming didn't feel like it would do anything. Banging noise, was someone beating down the door? Cops? What the fuck was going on?
Reagan wanted to tend to Caius and start healing his injuries, but she knew it would be fruitless while those girls were still outside, and the boy looked shaken and scared. Reagan and Caius wouldn't be able to relax until everyone was gone from their house but them. She could still smell the remnants of the demon, and the board continued to crackle softly like kindling. "You're okay," Reagan told Hunter as she passed by to quickly unlock the door for Sabrina and Mak. The words weren't terribly comforting, but Reagan always felt it difficult to empathize with people who put themselves in precarious positions. She unlocked the door and pulled it open for Mak and Sabrina, stepping back to let them in. "He's shaken up, so don't get in his face," Reagan instructed. "He likely doesn't know what happened."
Sabrina took a deep breath as soon as the screaming inside the room stopped, and it hadn't taken long for she and Mak to start banging on the door. Being inside the room now, it smelled funky, and Caius was covered in blood - hopefully not his? but not Hunter's... okay, so hopefully it was his and not Hunter's - but Hunter was there too and looking pale and sweaty and freaked out. She hung back, thinking Mak would probably be much better at comforting him than Sabrina. She wouldn't know the first thing to say.
Caius had stopped his approach when the boy started to scoot backward, holding his hands up in an ‘I mean you no harm’ gesture. He supposed he could understand the terror. The kid had just been through a traumatizing ordeal, gods only knew what he’d seen and experienced while he’d been possessed, and to wake up in this sort of situation, with a very bloody man coming at him with a knife ... maybe he could empathize more than Reagan could.
Mak pushed through into the room with Sabrina, her heart thudding hard in her chest. All of that noise had been absolutely horrific to listen to on the other side of the door, and she was half-convinced they would find Hunter just dead on the floor. He wasn’t though, he was cowering against a wall instead, and Mak completely ignored Reagan’s advice and rushed over to him, bypassing the bloody witch man without a second look. “Hunter!” she exclaimed, the word coming out half-sob. She’d been crying outside, feeling helpless and terrified and clinging to Sabrina, and it hadn’t really stopped yet. Mak dropped to her knees next to him and wrapped her arms around him tight. There was no question in her mind that this was Hunter again, pure Hunter, she could see it. “You’re okay, it’s okay, everything’s gonna be all right,” she babbled, pulling back to look at his face for a second. Then Mak noticed that his hands were still bound and she whipped her tear-streaked face around at the others, suddenly irritated. “He’s still tied up, give me a knife or something!”
This one time it was a good idea not to heed Reagan's advice - if only this once. While it was physically uncomfortable to be tackled and hugged, seeing Mak broke through the worst of Hunter's terror. If Mak was there it couldn't be too bad, maybe he wasn't about to be murdered and sent back to his dad in pieces. "Mak?" he sobbed, his voice a little broken. "What's... what's going on?" He had about a million questions like where was he, how did he get there, who were those people, why was there so much pain - but all he could do was scrounge up his face and cry. Everything felt wrong. His head was throbbing, his balls ached, he felt like he'd fallen down the stairs and his ears were ringing as if he'd just been to the loudest concert ever. It didn't help that Mak looked scared too and like she'd been crying. It felt like chapters were missing from his life, like he'd missed something huge because... drugged? Knocked out? He wasn't even sure what the last thing he remembered was.
Teenagers. Reagan looked at Caius and motioned for him to give Mak the knife so she could cut off the hand restraints. She wasn't thrilled about one of her ceremonial knives being touched by people other than she or Caius, but it wouldn't do to complain about it now. Hunter had been through a lot tonight, and she was going to leave it up to someone else to try and explain what had happened. "I have some tea that will help get him feeling right again," Reagan murmured to Sabrina. "I'll go make a couple bags for him to take home." She looked at Caius as she slipped out of the room, unsure as to whether he wanted to stay or leave the kids alone for a few moments to get their bearings. Caius was probably exhausted too, and she was already thinking about the remedies she needed to get together to put on his cuts once he got cleaned off.
Sabrina watched Reagan disappear out of the room and she walked over to Mak and Hunter. She didn't know if Mak wanted to tell him everything, but she knelt down beside them anyway, just to be there if they needed anything.
Caius handed over the knife with Reagan’s approval, then stepped back to give the kids some room. He picked up his shirt and gingerly pulled it back on for the moment. It was black, so he wasn’t worried about stains, and it hurt against all of his cuts, but he didn’t want to hang out bloody and half-naked with a bunch of teenagers. Nor did he want to leave them alone in Reagan’s sacred space, so he just found an out of the way spot to sit and rest for a minute. His own ears were ringing and he felt weak and a little dizzy.
Mak was just beside herself, tears still leaking out of her as she took the knife. It had actually worked, they had Hunter back, and he seemed to be mostly okay even if the front of his shirt was kind of bloody and he was probably in pain from other stuff. Like being kicked in the balls. Her hands were too shaky and she couldn’t get her eyes to clear enough to see straight, so she held the knife out to Sabrina. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt her best friend some more. “Can you --?” she asked, the words wobbly. Once Sabrina took it, Mak wrapped her arms around Hunter again. “You’re okay,” she said again. “You were-- ... the thing, the demon, it possessed you and it was horrible but we got it out, okay? You’re gonna be okay.”
Hunter was decidedly not keeping his shit together. Anything else and he might have tried because Mak was upset and someone needed to be stoic but that someone was not Hunter. Not tonight. He leaned in against Mak and sobbed openly, fists clenched tight while Sabrina cut the tape off his wrists and loosened the hoody. A demon had possessed him. Possessed him. Like the exorcist or something. Only he didn't remember a thing, hadn't been a passenger in his own body like on that TV show, hadn't been running around some pseudo house in his brain like on that other TV show. He didn't remember 'letting anyone in' or doing anything that even hinted at this possibly happening. How did Mak know he was okay? If people could just get possessed just like that. He'd had the hex bag with him all the time, it wasn't fair! His brain was trying hard to process everything and he remembered going to sleep after falling asleep one too many times over a movie. Sebastian had texted him, they'd won the game... What else? What Else? Possessed, it was a loaded word and a cold chill went through him at the thousands of questions pouring through his mind. "What did I do?" he whispered, terrified of the answer.
Sabrina tried her best to cut the tape from Hunter's wrists without hurting him, and she kept out of Mak's way. She wasn't as emotional as Mak was, for obvious reasons, but she was relieved that Hunter was okay. She supposed there was a bit of shock running through her that any of this had happened, and that it could have been so much worse. She bit back on pointing out that they didn't get it out at all, two witches did, but that was just semantics or whatever they called it. Once Hunter was free, Sabrina moved away so the two could talk, and she walked over to hand Caius back the knife. The guy looked pretty much like shit and she felt a wave of guilt, since it was all essentially their fault - her fault. Blood was drying on his skin and she could see where he had been injured. "I'm really sorry," Sabrina murmured. "We didn't know what else to do... but thank you. Are you going to be okay?"
Caius looked up as the girl approached him, blinking blearily at her. He felt all tapped out, kind of hollow, as happened a lot when he put a lot of his energy into magic. It hadn’t been a strong demon, or the fight would’ve been harder, but it still took a lot of effort to deal with purely spiritual beings, especially forcing them across dimensional borders they didn’t want to cross. He took Reagan’s knife back from Sabrina and gave a nod. She would have to re-consecrate it, but that was all right. “I’ll be fine,” Caius told the girl with a wan half-smile. “Magic just always has a cost. Just ... don’t fuck around with things you don’t understand again.” He didn’t know how well Reagan knew these kids, but Caius wouldn’t be bailing them out for free again.
Meanwhile, Mak couldn’t seem to stop petting Hunter. Once his hands were free, the hug that followed felt so good, and she just wanted to cling to him for the rest of the night. And maybe all the next day. She could viscerally feel how scared and confused he was, and Mak wished she didn’t have to tell him anything, that she could just soothe him and leave it at that. She ruffled his hair and then pulled back to look at him, her brow furrowed. Mak wiped at the tears on both of their cheeks. “It wasn’t you, okay? I know that. The demon just ... used you. To lure me outside and try to like, hurt me. But I fought him off, I had to hit you in the head, I’m so sorry Hunter, I’m so sorry,” she said all in almost one breath, gingerly touching the side of his head below where she’d hit him with the flashlight. “We didn’t know what else to do, so we brought you here, to witches, to help, and they fixed it, they got the demon out and burned the board, it’s over now.”
Was it over? Maybe this one demon was gone but there were demons in the world, real demons who could possess people and hurt them in their dreams. Hunter didn't know what he was supposed to do with that knowledge and he wished he could go back to being oblivious about all that darkness. His tears kept coming and everything just felt wrong, like he'd eaten something disgusting before getting in a car crash. For a second he thought he might throw up but it passed and he leaned in against Mak again, clinging to her arms. He had lured her out and tried to hurt her. He didn't want to know how, the thing to focus on was 'tried', she'd fought him off because she was badass and wonderful and she was okay. Maybe she was just saying that. His mind was not being kind to him in the least bit as it reeled with questions and potential answers. She looked okay though, scared but not bleeding or anything.... A cold chill went through his core and he pulled back, giving her a stricken look. "Where's my phone," he whispered. "I need to call Jen." Jen had been home and he had no memory of what he'd done that night, where he'd gone... His mind flashed unhelpful images at him of Jen and his dad dead on the floor at home and he felt sick all over again. "Oh my god, Mak, what if..." He'd let go of her to pat his pockets but there was nothing there, not even his house keys.
Sabrina nodded at Caius, because her throat felt too dry and raw to say much else. What could she say anyway? He was right. She turned back to Mak and Hunter, but stayed where she was. She probably wouldn't have told Hunter about how he had attacked Mak, especially if he couldn't remember doing it. But it wasn't her place to say anything, and Hunter was probably feeling the physical effects from everything anyway. None of this was Hunter's fault, but she wondered if he would end up blaming himself. She blinked at the mention of his phone. Sabrina hadn't seen it, and Mak hadn't had it, right? But then how did he lure Mak outside? It had to be somewhere, didn't it? "We'll drive you home," Sabrina said quickly. "We can go check on her."
Reagan had re-entered the room with a small box in her hand, walking over to offer it to Sabrina. The boy was talking, even if he looked like death had warmed over. They would have to deal with the aftermath of what happened, and all Reagan could do was hoping the boy hadn't seriously hurt anyone before the girls brought him here. "Make him drink this a couple times a day for the next few days. It'll help," she promised. Reagan turned back to Hunter and Mak. "Do you need me to call someone for you? Your parents?" That wasn't likely to get a positive answer, but it felt necessary to ask.
Mak’s eyes had widened back at Hunter when he mentioned Jen. She hadn’t even thought of Jen, fuck. Mak checked her own pockets, then remembered she’d abandoned her own phone in Sabrina’s dad’s car when they’d gotten out to take Hunter into the house. Shit, what had she been thinking? “My phone’s in the car, we can call her as soon as we get outside, okay?” she said to Hunter, trying to sound calm and capable. Mak had Jen’s number saved for emergencies, and she was damn glad of that now, because Hunter was probably in no shape to remember it off the top of his head. She’d told him what he’d done because he asked, and she wanted him to understand why he was kind of beaten up, but she was definitely not going to mention that she’d tried calling Sheriff Barrett already and gotten no answer. The possible implications of that were Bad, and they needed to get moving. Mak pulled her shirt up to wipe at her face, then pushed herself to her feet, hands out to help Hunter up. She glanced around at Reagan at that suggestion, looking vaguely horrified. “No,” she said quickly. “No it’s okay, we’ve got it from here.” She didn’t know if that was really true, but none of them wanted their parents involved, she was sure of that.
Hunter had gone wide-eyed at the mere idea of calling his father. He would never understand what had happened nor would he believe them if they tried to explain. There was no reasonable explanation for any of it they could come up with and that wasn't just because of his current state of mind. He'd thought about telling him he was in trouble a countless time over the last week but he honestly had no idea how. He shook his head firmly once he was on his feet and he was pretty sure he wouldn't stay standing if not for Mak being there for him to lean on. He felt dizzy, sick and in pain and she was like a life raft he could cling to. There was blood on his shirt and he didn't know if it was his own or somebody else's. He was barely processing his surroundings, the man in the corner, the woman talking to Sabrina. He had no idea where he even was. "Can we go?" he asked weakly because the terror he felt at the thought that he might have hurt Jen - or someone else - made it impossible to stay there.
Sabrina nodded quickly and glanced at Reagan and Caius. "Thank you," she said again, hurrying over to Hunter to help Mak get him outside. "I'm sorry... thank you." Caius looked terrible, and hurt, and she hoped he knew they were appreciative, despite everything. Sabrina's not sure what else they would have done if the two witches hadn't been able to help when they did. Reagan followed the teens out of the room toward the back door where they'd come in, and where Sabrina had her car parked near the back. She flipped on the light and opened the doors for them. There was no point in telling them to be safe, because at this point, they probably ought to know to do so. If Hunter had done something terrible before the girls brought him to Reagan's house, they would no doubt find out about it. Reagan didn't move from the back door until Mak and Sabrina had gotten Hunter into the car. Then she quietly shut the back doors behind her. Whatever happened now was out of her hands.