Thread: Flirting with the Devil [Shaelinn and Dreamer-]

Her appearance See more Blood. Blood everywhere. It resembled a canvas of a mad artist who had just spilled the color red all over his painting in a fit of creative fever. The floors were wet with the life-giving liquid, wet and slippery under her boots Lara wondered briefly whether the vampires would clean the room later with their tongues, savoring the dinner that had come to their open arms so willingly, or if they considered eating from the floor unhygienic and employed a charwoman to take care of this mess. The mental image of a ghoulish abomination with a dirty mop, complaining about how hard it was to get a blood from that expensive Persian carpet, almost made her chuckle weakly. Certain part of her, the rational side marked by rigorous training, was capable of an amateurish self-diagnosis she was slowly succumbing to the shock. Unfortunately, that side which still had an access to the light of reason couldn't do much, outside of being a silent spectator to Lara's nervous breakdown. They had taught her many methods how to keep herself going during traumatic situations - how to pierce through the layer of panic right to the healthy core - but that knowledge was successfully erased from her hard-drive, along with her ability to feel. Only numbness remained numbness and a distant certitude her life would end here today. She was crouching behind a barrel, barely breathing, her limbs going stiff from the lack of movement every little sound seemed overwhelming to her heightened senses. Approaching footsteps - many of them, at least according to the echo - were like a rapid gunshots in her head. Hey, pretty little miss, we know you're here! Don't be such a party pooper, come out and join our merry games. You're gonna have a time of your life! male voice exclaimed, smug and confident. For a moment, Lara contemplated feigning death by smearing the blood all over her body and crawling under the pile of dead bodies that used to be her friends, but such an act would be foolish her heartbeat would navigate them like a lighthouse in the darkness. Glancing down at her trembling hand, at her fingers firmly wrapped around her trusty laser gun, she suddenly understood. It was so simple. The gun had still enough delicious radioactive juice for about five shots five separate chances to fry some random vampire's ass before kicking the bucket. Lara wouldn't degrade herself by sprawling like a pitiful worm or pleading to spare her life. Never. She served as a shield for humanity, the last line of defense to resist the enemy forces and dragging down few bastards to keep her company in the hell was a good way to go. Taking a deep breath, Lara raced from her improvised shelter to meet her fate... She woke up disoriented and drenched in her own cold sweat it took a few rounds of looking around to distinguish the shapes of the furniture to confirm this was indeed her apartment. The feeling of uneasiness was slowly dying out only to be replaced with shame the same nightmare documenting the fiasco of their last mission visited her practically every night and yet, her body never failed to deliver the neatly folded package of anxiety. Who am I supposed to murder to get a calm night of undisturbed sleep for once? Should I just try out some experimental lobotomy to forget or what? Knowing from experience she wouldn't be able to drift off to the land of dreams again, Lara rolled out of her bed. She scuttled to the windows automatically to open the curtains nothing indicated the morning would conquer its right to rule any time soon for the only light present was the artificial glow of the neon signs. The desire to strangle anyone responsible for the heinous crime of ruining London's historical architecture with flashy and obscene modernity would have entered her mind subconsciously under normal circumstances, but instead, Lara's thoughts wandered to that fateful mission. She had managed to survive, but not because of her insane weapon skills it turned out the freaks just needed a living messenger to get their point across. Lara possessed a great acting talent - a talent so prodigious it would make any professional green with envy - so persuading her boss she was okay and ready to continue her job merrily hadn't posed much of a complication to her. People could be deceived so easily. Keeping a straight face, not doing anything out of ordinary and occasionally rewarding some lame joke with a laugh was enough to convince them of her mental health. The veil of pretense, however, slid away once she reached her home - a place free of sympathetic stares directed at her address - and what remained underneath chilled her to the core. Lara was beginning to fear that Pandora's box had been opened faith in their cause couldn't be restored that easily after she had witnessed how simple it was for them to massacre whole unit armed to the teeth. Humanity is playing a Russian roulette with a fully loaded gun, she thought grimly, staring at her own reflection in the window. Pessimism or defeatism had never been an integral part of her personality, but how could they ever hope to win that endless stuggle with evolution's blatant favoritism towards those scoundrels?! Well, perhaps there is a way and maybe you'll be able to follow that path if you ever get cured out of your cowardice, whispered the annoying voice in the back of her head. Two universal responses existed for the emergency situation when your enemy gained more advanced weapons than you you either had to transform his benefit into disadvantage through the subtle art of sabotage OR you needed to copy his style and obtain the very same instruments. And while the former was quite impossible, the latter lay within borders of reality... The ancient book resting on her bedside table irrevocably attracted her gaze Lara had flirted with the blasphemous notion for a while and purchased the tome about three days ago in a remote second-hand bookshop. Oh yeah, a demon companion is exactly what I need to uplift my spirit everyone knows how gentle and good-natured those guys are. I wonder why nobody has come up with the brilliant idea of turning them into social workers in the homes for the elderly yet. Right. Summoning a demon and ripping her soul apart in the process solely to ensure it wouldn't use her ribcage as a highly avant-garde fruit bowl couldn't be nominated for the Best plan of the century award. Stupid, outlandish, potentially suicidal those were the suitable adjectives to describe it. Just as she was about to dismiss the idea completely, the vision of blood-stained warehouse emerged in front of her inner eye, bitter aftertaste of helplessness filled her mouth again and in that moment, thirst after sweet power finally dealt a mortal blow to the logical thinking. Clapping her hands two times to activate the light, she headed for the kitchen to get the supplies candles, matches, and chalk. Sanity is over-rated anyway, Lara thought as she was digging through the drawers to find a knife. She gathered all the ingredients hastily, as if afraid that her resolve might vanish any second, and returned back to her bedroom. The short-haired blonde opened the old grimoire with evident disdain that would break any bibliophile's heart her long, slender fingers browsed through the yellowed pages full of occult lore until she found a certain section. Chapter four Book of Summoning. Alright, let's roll. The woman knelt to the ground, suddenly aware she was still dressed only in her red nightgown which didn't do much to keep the cold away, and started to draw a strange pattern full of unnatural angles according to the book. Lara wasn't delusional enough to claim being gifted when it came to anything art-related, but her excellent eye-hand coordination worked in her favor she didn't have to be ashamed of her creation, even though it seemed slightly shabby. The candles were swiftly arranged around the motif to correspond with the four cardinal directions north and south, east and west. Afterwards, she stood up, her eyes glued to the crumbling pages. Per Adonai Elohim, Adonai Jehova, the incantation read, Adonai Sabaoth, Metraton Ou Agla Methon, Verbum Pythonicum, Mysterium Salamandrae. Her voice, formerly quiet and somewhat choked, lost its doubts the words were flowing naturally from her mouth as if she recited them every day. Cenventus Sylvorum, Antra Gnomorum, Demonia Coeli God, Almonsin Gibor, Jehoshua Evam Zariathnatmik, Veni, Veni, Veni! Lara paused, taking a moment to breathe properly. Oh, you who dwell in the darkness of the Outer void, come forth unto Earth, once more I entreat you. Oh, you who abide beyond the Spheres of Time, hear my supplication. Griwer! Meras! Hoendi! Come, for I am both gate and key. She raised the knife poignant pain seized her right palm as the steel bit her flesh, her blood slowly dripping into the pentagram. With my blood I call you, with my blood I bind you. Come, come forth, I say, and roam the Earth once more!