INTO THE DARK { BOOK ONE } BREAK

- 2 -

Abeline looked to the sky. The time to preform the ritual was approaching, inching and creeping nearer and nearer, and her patience was drawing slimmer with each passing moment.

Her eyes darted to the girl chained to the wooden stump against a painted red circle, Her black eyes digging into her soul as she stuggled to escape the shackles that bound her.

"We must proceed. This might be our last chance to reincarnate the demon before the portals close, and we can't take chances. "

" B-but mistress " A member sputtered " There are so many risks ... what is something goes wrong? "

" Then one of you will have to find a way to fix it, won't you!? " Abeline barked.

Abilene helped the leather-cover book to the sky, it's stone glistening and the engraved pattern seemingly more detailed as the night furthered.

" Hey! " The captured woman interjected " What the hell are you talking about!? Let me fucking go! "

Abeline drew a knife from underneath her shirt, " I'm afraid, Ashley, that cannot happen. "

-

Samantha gazed into her murky reflection in the bathroom mirror, unsure of what she might do.

" Something's wrong. " Samantha shuddered " I can feel it, we need to call the police. "

" She probably just went home, " Ian assured her. " It's an Ashley thing. "

" No it's not! " she hollered, her face tired and sombre from attempting to reach Ashley's phone repeatedly.

" Look, " Samantha fingered the missed calls alerts " Even if she left, she would tell me, she would've taken her phone and her things, but they were in my car, along with my keys, That's SO not Ashley. "

" Brad's gone too, you know. He could've given her a ride home. "

" That wouldn't happen. Knowing Brad, he probably got lost in the woods. "

Ian chuckled " You're cute, you know? " He pinched her nose. " Calm down, Ashley's fine. She's a drunk and defiant teenager, and we live in Bellmoor, The most bleak city on earth. She probably just ran off somewhere.

Samantha breathed out , tucking away her rhinestone embellished case that housed her cellular device " I guess you're right."

" Come on, Let's go home. "

-

Samantha sauntered down the pathway and the steps leading to her house, her car parked out front.

If Ashley wasn't back before tomorrow night, she would go searching for her, or call the police, or something, but for now like Ian said, she had to wait.

Truthfully, Ashley was a lot of things, but she certainly wasn't some spoiled, angsty teenager, or at least not to the extent of the other kids in Bellmoor. She wasn't the type to run away, and certainly not with Brad, but who knows, maybe they had just left the party, or maybe the timing of their leave was just a coincidence, and they never left together at all.

All these situations were highly plausible, and Samantha tried not to ponder on them too deeply. In the scuffle, she had forgotten about the book she had took from Abeline. She had moved it from her hoodie to room with the contents of the bag she had gotten.

It was visibly older, but something about it was oddly compelling, and gave her strange eerie and foreboding vibes like when Ashley had left.

She creaked open the door to her house and crept in. Her parents were out on a business trip for the next week, so she was left alone with the house. They were always out traveling, their work was a hectic mess that left Samantha alone most of the time, the only connection she had to them an occasional phone call and a silver locket she wore under her clothes all the time. Given to her when she was a kid, her mom had promised it would 'protect her'. But tonight, she felt especially afraid. Her lucky steak seemed to be wearing out and running dry, and she was getting paranoid, and possibly even seeing things, based on the encounter in the kitchen.