The Shadows from Beyond

4 ~ Tattoo

I'm pacing anxiously when it happens.

A flurry of insects swirls in through somewhere in my apartment, and they swarm in a tornado of nastiness. I step back, ready to run to the door. But just as I reach the handle, a hand grabs ahold of my wrist. I am thrust back away from the door and pinned against the wall.

The man grabs me by my long, white hair, and pulls my head back, baring my throat to him. He snarls in my face and chuckles as I flinch.

"The name's Magnus Veilvoid, and you are going to be my little friend, aren't you, Wren?"

"Let go of me," I snap, but my voice betrays how scared I am of this guy. How does he know me? What is he? Why is he here, in my apartment? Is he going to hurt me?

Magnus Veilvoid laughs.  "Oh, your fear is like a fine wine. I love it!"

"You're sick," I growl.

He pulls on my hair, making my scalp feel as though it is on fire. I hiss, and he giggles. The sheer, dark joy in such a sound is a bit disconcerting. Magnus leans forward, his hot breath reeks of alcohol. His blond hair falls in his eyes, and he sneers down at me.

"You know, a friend of mine told me about you," he says.  "Seems he was right. You are a firebrand, aren't you?"

I'm too angry now to be appropriately scared of this guy. He is just another bully.  And bullies stick together. So I sneer right back at him.

"Let me guess.  Rainor, the demon is your friend?"

The look of absolute shock on this guy's face is like a blast of happiness to my heart.  But Magnus's shock fades quick. He is suddenly pressing a knife to my throat. I gasp, the metal so cold that I want to shiver for that alone, not only the knife being pressed into my throat.

"Fuck you, little mortal bitch."

"What did I ever do to you?"

"Shut the fuck up. You are not in charge here, I am."

"This is my house!" I yell.

Blood starts to trickle down my neck from the cut he's pressed into my flesh.  He grins at me.

"This is your house, eh? You sure about that?"

He leans forward and licks the blood from the skin of my throat. I flinch and he laughs like he's just heard the best joke ever. Then, he presses his chest against me, his knife is digging into my skin further. I want to cry, the pain from it is so bad. But I don't give him the satisfaction.

"You are nothing. Just a little girl the world forgot to bury," he snarls. "And I'm going to fucking bury you so deep your own ghost won't find you."

That strikes a chord within me. I scream. I scream, until he hits me across the face. In that moment, he's no longer pressing the knife to my throat, or holding me against the wall. So, I run towards the door. But he appears in front of me, knife upraised in his hand.

"Fuck you!" I scream. "Leave my apartment!"

"Scream all you want, little mortal," he says.  "I've sealed this room, a ward is raised. You can't do anything."

But then, there's a flash of light outside the window to my right. I turn, and watch as a ball of blue-gray light shatters the window, and then, Annika and Darius appear in my living room.

I run towards them, but Magnus seizes me from behind.

"Oh, no you don't!" He presses the knife up to my voice box area.

"Magnus! Drop her. Now!"

Darius snarls as dark red fur bristles all over his dark skin, before my eyes, he morphs into a huge, red wolf. The wolf that he's become snarls at Magnus, and Annika raises her glowing hands.

"Leave her alone. Pick on someone your own size, bastard!" Annika yells. 

Magnus laughs. "I'm no fool. I won't fight you, Annika."

"Then back the fuck off," snarls Annika.

Magnus looks at me, his black eyes piercing my soul. He sighs.  "She is mine, Annika."

"No, she isn't, Magnus." Annika's energy around her hands crackles like thunder. She stares at him intently, fury etched on her tan face.

Darius snarls. Magnus just rolls his eyes, although I know that I'd have likely wet myself if he'd been growling at me. Magnus turns to look at Annika once more. The anger roiling off him is damn near palpable.

"I'll be back for this little girl."

Annika shakes her head.  "Don't. You're not in charge of her, Magnus. She's a person. Not a thing!"

Magnus's eyes flicker. He looks back at me, and then he vanishes into nothing. No trace of him is left behind, save for the blood and his spit on my skin. I shiver, and Annika runs over to me. Darius shifts back to his human form.

And then, my legs give out. Annika catches me and lowers me to the floor carefully. She sighs. "Are you okay? Did he ... what did he do to you?"

I shake my head.  "He just threatened me. I think .... I think that Rainor told him about me. And so, he came here. See me for himself. And he cut me, too."

"Gods damn him," Darius snarls. "If that had been any deeper, that ...."

"Darius," Annika says.

"What?"

"Look." She brushes my hair aside and they both look at the side of my neck, where he licked the blood away. I shiver hard. I hate feeling so fucking violated.

"What?" I ask them.

"Show her," Darius says, his voice raspy.

Annika pulls out her phone, and snaps a pic of my neck. She shows it to me. A strange symbol is seemingly tattooed on my flesh. I reach up, touching the previously untouched skin. I shake my head. The symbol is that of a star that has tentacles rather than the spikes most stars have, and it is inside a bigger triangle, with its tentacle-like spikes poking out of it.

"What the fuck is that? What does it mean?" I ask them.

"A .... well, I guess we could call it a tattoo, but ... it's a ...." Annika trials off.

"What?" I ask her.

"What she means is, the tattoo is not something that you want. Nothing good," says Darius.

"Yeah, I'll say," Annika scoffs. She turns back to me. "But we will figure it out. We will help you. I promise."