Chapter Thirteen #5
Someone moved across the space. She called her a girl, but the sister towed a young woman who looked to be about twenty to my ancestor. We caught a glimpse of her solemn face before she was placed facing my ancestor with her back to us.
“Let us begin,” she said, then moved back—leaving the young woman in the middle as she joined hands with her sisters. “The hallow of the air, gives an aigrette light and fair—”
“Wait, hallow?” Lucifer cried, lurching forward. “Did she just say hallow?”
I was pretty sure that question wasn’t for me or Mother—especially because the latter fumbled the orb and almost dropped it when she read the word hallow in the air. She wasn’t paying attention to Lucifer in the slightest.
“—from the hallow of the sea, steal what he has given thee,” they chanted. “For the hallow of the fire, light the pyre—burn the sire. Among the hallow of the wood, join thy shackles to his manhood.”
I might’ve reacted to the wildness of that last line, but all I could do was gaze at Dora, because someone fucking should. Someone should pay attention to my sister as she bled out on the cold floor.
“My tale is told. My orders bold. Heed me well for power untold.”
Within the mirror, the sisters began their chant anew. “The hallow of the air gives an aigrette light and fair—”
A light, orange glow poured from the window, stealing my attention. Within, the young woman in the middle of the circle was the origin of that glow. Bright, wispy, dancing orange light swirled around her, then spread—sharing its radiance with everyone in the circle.
“—for the hallow of the fire, light the pyre—burn the sire!”
They began chanting in earnest, louder and louder as the light grew brighter and brighter.
Crying out, I whipped my head around just in time before the window exploded—showering the room in shards of glass that disappeared before they hit the ground.
“So that’s how they did it,” Lucifer breathed, losing his clownish smirk for the first time since we met. “They turned one of their sisters into the All Hallows, and then shared her power among the coven.”
All Hallows?
“With that kind of power, they could’ve turned the sky into a funny hat!
Closing the gates would’ve been child’s play.
But I thought that was only legend,” he muttered to himself, pacing the floor.
“I’ve lived for an eternity— I’ve searched for an eternity, and there was never any proof that the All Hallows was more than fiction.
How could a bunch of painted cunts get their hands on its power before me!
” he bellowed—finally dropping his funny, wicked uncle act.
“Fuck!” he roared, kicking a sacrifice pile across the room and shattering the demon blood jar on the wall. “And it didn’t even tell us what any of that fucking shit is supposed to mean! Who are the hallows of the air, sea, fire, and wood?
“Steal what he has given thee? Why in the fuck would you need to steal what someone already gave you?! Fuck!” He jumped up and down—stamping his feet like a flipping toddler. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”
Mother wasn’t paying this tantrum any mind. She returned to the table and picked up a large, black book. Calmly, she started writing.
“What are you writing?” Lucifer demanded. In a blink, he was in her face—snatching the book from her. “You know what it all means, don’t you? Don’t you! You know who the hallows are. You know what we need to create the All Hallows!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three heads whipped to the door, and I meant three—Mother included. She could hear.
And I had a lot to fucking say!
“How could you?” I screamed, snapping her attention back to me. “You killed my sister for a fucking nursery rhyme! You—”
Bang! Bang!
“Charlie?” Tristan shouted through the wood. “Are you okay? Can you hear me?”
“Ugh. Are you certain she’s even in there?” asked a lazy and distinctive voice.
“’Course, I’m fucking sure! I can smell her scent.” Someone roughly yanked and rattled the doorknob. “Fuck! Why won’t this open!”
Something moved out of the corner of my eye.
I turned my head... and landed on Dora just as she sat up.
“D-Dora?”
Head down, my sister stared at the knife in her chest.
“Dora!” I shrieked—laughing a loud, jubilant sound as joy and relief blew away my grief and rage. “You’re alive! I can’t believe it, you’re okay. Sis, can you hear me?” I asked, fighting anew in my binds. “Just hold on, okay. I’m going to get you help so— Wait! Don’t!”
Grasping the knife hilt, she yanked it from her body and tossed it aside.
My speech died in my throat.
“Charlie?! Charlie, what’s wrong? Why did you scream?” Tristan called. “Dammit, Belphe! Stop fucking standing there and get her out!”
Their words reached me from far away. Lucifer and Mother’s heated argument didn’t touch me at all. All I could see was the knife’s blade... covered in black blood.
Dora raised her head.
The last thing I saw before Ronin’s magic winked me out of the room... was Dora’s ruby red eyes.
Thank you for reading Deal With The Devil!
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