No Control (Chris Motionless)

Chapter 43 - Waiting Game

"How did you even know that these people were possessed?"

"Two things." She states as she turns back a page to point at two equal-sized triangles illustrated on the paper. "They would sometimes have this mark on the back of their necks."

"What does it stand for?"

"They signify the completion of four of the sacrifices. It's how the cult knows they can carry on to the final ritual. The second thing isn't as easy to expose, but if you're ever able to put a flame to the host's blood, it will ignite like petrol."

"How is that possible?"

"I've read several different studies that say it's caused by the bond the demon grows with the body it's in. William's blood becomes their blood the longer they are together. If you find either of those things, it means you're running out of time to prevent the last ritual."

"What even is it? What makes it any worse than what has already been done?"

A shadow of sadness crossed over her features as she spoke, "It's worse because you'll both die at the end of it. Regardless of whether or not the ritual works."

Before either of us could say another word, there was a heavy knock on the door. I jumped at the sound and when I turned to see the flashing lights of the ambulance I let out a sharp breath.

"They're here," I mutter as I hurry to allow them inside and force myself to ignore the sickness I now feel. 

My dread only grew worse as I stood back and watched the EMT people place Kim on a stretcher. Then, just before they could wheel her out, she held out her arm to me and slipped something small into my palm. It was the heart-shaped locket.

At my confused expression, she says, "Put it in that. The necklace may not mean what it once did to me, but it still stands for love. It should still work."

I popped it open to find a tiny photograph of Kim and Roy looking to be in their early twenties, arms coiled around each other as they smiled brightly for the camera. My eyes flicked back up to find her's as the same sadness swam in her dark eyes, something told me that some part of her still cared despite her remark.

I gave her a firm nod, "I'll do what I can to take care of this."

"May God be with you, sweetheart." 

Then just like that, I was alone in a stranger's house where people who wanted me dead were probably on their way after me. I made sure to go around to every door and window checking to see if they were locked as I called Mackenzie.

"Hey Amber, where have you been all night?" She questioned with a playful tone.

I decided not to beat around the bush as I told her, "I need you to come to Kim's house as fast as you can."

"Why is something wrong with Kamaria's mom?"

I glanced over at bottles of pills on the kitchen counter before turning my eyes back out of the front door's tiny window, half expecting to see a group of hooded figures marching down the street towards me now that there had been a wrench thrown in their plans. They had to be finding out right about now that I was learning much more than they had ever intended for me to discover. I gave my head a hard shake as I willed myself to focus long enough to explain to Mackenzie what had happened.

The first words out of her mouth after I had said my piece made my throat constrict. "So, Chris really is one of them?"

"That or they are trying to pin it on him."

"Which one do you believe that it is?"

"I don't know anymore. At this rate, I'm just trying not to get killed."

Unable to stand still, I made my way back into the living room where the lockbox and the occult book sat. In the back of my mind, the thought that I should actually look into what Kim had said about him being possessed wouldn't go away. 

"Don't worry, I'm on my way right now." 

"Make sure you bring Blake or Lea with you."

"Um, it's kind of too late for that, I'm already on the train."

"By yourself?"

"As soon as you said that you needed me, I was out the door."

"Shit, okay, just stay on the phone with me until you get here."

"Alright." She agreed and then paused for a moment before exclaiming, "Wait! I'm pretty sure Blake is around there somewhere close to the part of the city you're in. Do you want me to send him a text to meet up with us?"

"Yeah, I feel like we can definitely use his muscle in this situation."

"Well, he's definitely got enough of those, let's just hope he hasn't started making his way back to campus already."

While we waited for his response, I sat back on the floor and began to pour over the remaining things that Kim had wanted me to look into. I read over the binding ritual even though it made me feel foolish to entertain the idea that I was preparing to capture a demon. On the other hand, it also gave me a sense of ease to at least be doing something other than just twisting myself into knots of worry as I waited for someone to show up. The more I read, the more I understood that a good part of this ritual was about intention. The only physical parts were the fire, the blood, the object meant to trap, and oddly a piece of grain.  

"Where would I even find something like that?" I muttered to myself, but it quickly caught Mackenzie's attention.

"What are you talking about?"

I chewed my lip, I didn't really want to confess that I was actually considering buying into this occult shit. 

"Oh! Hold that thought! I got a text from Blake!" She announced and then a moment later she let out a muffled mutter, "Son of a bitch."

"What is it?"

"He said that he's caught in traffic, but that as soon as we meet up we should head straight back to campus."

I let out a heavy sigh, "Of course, he would be held up at a time like this."

"Don't worry, I'm nearly there." She says in a tone that was clearly meant to be reassuring, but at this rate, I was almost certain that I wasn't going to be calm again until this was all over. 

"I just don't want something bad to happen to you too because of what I've gotten myself in the middle of this time."

"We'll deal with this the same way we dealt with Matt. We will do our best to remove you from the situation, get the cops to take care of it, and then hunker down until the rest of it blows over."

"This is very different compared to what happened with my ex. I doubt it will be that simple and even that wasn't a breeze to go through."

"Well, I'll be right by your side either way."

I gave a weak laugh at that, "You're taking this at too noble of an approach, we aren't characters in some action movie."

"At this point, we might as well be." She points out with her own chuckle but then changes the subject to something a lot more serious. "So, Lea sent me a text that Kamaria is on the way to the hospital to check on her mom."

"Do they know anything about how she's doing now?"

"They have her in intensive care, but other than that, she doesn't seem to know anything more."

"I guess this is just going to be a waiting game for all of us now."

"It looks like it."