Chapter 2 Summoning Disaster #2
There were others too, like our marketing analyst, Martin, and Poppy, from the administration team. But it was Jenifer, aka Jenny the Slutbag, that I hated with a passion and who was smirking at me now as if I was the shit on the bottom of someone else’s shoe that had just walked in.
She was the social media manager and had done everything in her power to get me thrown off this account.
Of course, she was also bosom drinking buddies with the bitch, Melissa.
Someone who worked alongside Slutbag and who wanted to see my head on a manicured spike (whatever one of those was).
Because in a nutshell, she was making a play for the next art director job, a position it was well known I had been working toward getting.
Hence, the snigger I received as I walked inside.
Something made even worse when my boss, Mr. Banner, our advertising director and owner of the company, scanned the length of me.
Doing so like I was a ghetto wall covered in graffitied curse words talking about having sex with someone’s mama.
I mean, it was a black dress with grey runes and white symbols on it, not gang signs and F-bombs.
“Nice choice of dress, Swallowmere,” Slutbag said, bumping into me and making me grit my teeth.
“It’s Shadowmere.”
She ignored the correction, tossing her platinum-blonde hair, and it was obvious even to me that most of it was extensions, the longer sections at the back were a mismatched shade.
But then, had she been a nicer person to me and not some spawn of the devil, then she would have, no doubt, been considered attractive.
And well, most of the male workforce here must have been under the same impression, as she had slept with a lot of them.
But I’d learned that when someone was ugly on the inside, it inevitably bled through to the surface, and her core was as rotten as they came.
“Eliza, I hope you’re ready for this. You know this could very well be our biggest account to date, should your pitch go right, that is.”
I swallowed hard and said,
“I won’t let you down, Mr. Banner.”
Of course, it didn’t help when my boss gave me another once-over, and his face said it all… what’s up with the goth attire?
But then, thankfully, he got a phone call, and it finally took his assessing eyes off my dress. So, I decided to busy myself with plugging the laptop in so it wouldn’t lose battery during the PowerPoint presentation.
“Well, it looks like our client is running late. Why don’t we take ten minutes?” Mr. Banner said, making me tense in an obvious, wishful way and hoping, or more like praying, that the guy would reschedule.
“And enough time to change, perhaps,” My boss then muttered, giving me a pointed look and one that I tried to laugh off.
Well, that was until it was clear he wasn’t joking. So, I nodded and quickly dashed out of the meeting room, ignoring another of Slutbag’s evil sniggers. Then I raced over to my friend, Tara, who thankfully wasn’t that far from being the same size as me.
“Wait, is it over already?” she asked, looking confused, and over to where the others were helping themselves to coffee through the glass wall.
“I need your clothes.”
“What?” she asked, frowning at me as if looking for my second stain of the day.
“Basically, the client is running late and Mr. Banner just told me that I have to change before the meeting starts.”
“What… wait, he can’t do that,” she said now with a hand on her hip and doing her best ‘I’m an all-powerful diva that can cut you down to size’ stare. Yep, she was essentially my office hero, but right now, I just needed her clothes.
“Well, he pretty much did, and if I want to nail this presentation, then I need to look like something other than a person who has an obsession with Vampire novels and has an altar in their house covered in black candles… basically, my mom’s house,” I added, as being my best friend, Tara had obviously met my mom and my sister.
“Okay, okay, but you should really take this up with HR.”
“Tara, you are HR,” I reminded her.
“Yes, but what I mean is in a more official capacity and not just the usual name-bashing we do when getting shit faced drunk together.”
“Well, getting shit faced drunk sounds great right about now, and name-bashing Jenny-lady-slutathon even more so. But right now, I just need the clothes off your back… so just come to the bathroom with me and we can…”
At this, she waved off my panic and said,
“Don’t worry, I’ve got a spare outfit in my drawer.”
“What? You couldn’t have told me this when I first walked in?
” I practically screeched like some demented banshee…
although I had to admit, I doubted there were many calm banshees out there that whispered sweet nothings to their victims and didn’t cry out wildly into the night.
Oh, my Goddess, I was starting to sound like my mother!
“You were late for your meeting, which, by the way, you will still be if you wanna stand here talking about this.”
“Okay, fine, but FYI, tell me all the extra shit you bring with you to the office next time, and that way I can skip the trip to my mom’s shop altogether and just come here and raid your emergency supply.”
“Or here’s an idea, create your own emergency supply, and that way, you don’t need to steal mine,” she countered, winning with logic.
“Fine, fine, just hand it over, you official life saver, you,” I said, making grabby gestures with my hands as she opened her bottom drawer and pulled out a duffel bag.
“Why do you have this anyway?”
“Bill, the copy guy.” I narrowed my eyes in silent judgment.
“Okay, okay, I know, I know. But he’s hot and, well, you know we had that fling last month, and then that afternoon I told you the door to the coffee room was jammed, and I spilled creamer down my top…
well, it wasn’t the type of creamer you would put in your coffee,” she told me with a wink, making me scrunch up my face.
“Eww… gross… officially, that’s disgusting,” I said, walking backward with the bag in hand.
“Yes… yes I am,” she agreed, making me chuckle, but then as I started to turn, I bumped into someone solid, who dropped their briefcase at the same time I dropped my bag. We both bent down to retrieve our stuff at the same time, apologizing.
“I am so sorry.”
“My regrets, Miss…”
“Miss, gotta go! Gonna be soooo late!” I said as I practically ran for the bathroom without even sparing the poor guy a glance, having no idea who I just bumped into.
Although by the time I made it to the toilet, his sexy voice was still playing out in my head.
Meaning I now wished I had taken the time to put a face to the deep, authoritative tone that admittedly had sent shivers up my spine.
“No time for that, Eliza,” I told myself as I dashed into the cubicle and started trying to unzip the dress at the side.
But then something strange happened as I started running my hands along the fabric, trying to stretch it down so I could straighten the zipper.
The face of that demonic King flashed there once more, causing me to actually fall back onto the toilet.
It was such a powerful vision, it had me near gasping for air, now holding my head in my hands and leaning down with my elbows to my knees. I then took deep, calming breaths, telling myself quietly,
“It’s not real… not real… It’s just my imagination.”
Then once I felt as though I had gotten myself under control, I released a breath and dusted my hands down my skirt before standing.
But that turned out to be a huge mistake, as suddenly the runes and symbols on the skirt started to fucking glow! I started shaking my head in disbelief as they then rose off the material in front of me.
“Okay, this is really not real… oh shit, oh shit… OH SHIT!” I shouted this last part as the glowing lines that floated in the air started to vibrate and shudder, as if they were charging up or something.
They pulsated faster and faster, growing in size until, suddenly, they exploded all around me in a bright, blinding light. One that ended up knocking me backward hard enough that I hit my head on the wall.
Then, as I slumped to the toilet seat and was about to lose consciousness, I did so to the sound of someone asking…
“How the fuck did I get here?”