Chapter 2
Annaliese watched as the strange man continued to jump excitedly in the middle of her living room. He hadn’t yet noticed that she had cracked the bedroom door open and there was a thin sliver of light peeking into the living room. Slowly, she stood up, sliding her hand up the doorframe, before reaching to the light switch just outside her bedroom door and turning on the light to the living room. She then hid herself more thoroughly behind the bedroom door so she wouldn’t be seen, but still to where she could see.
The man paused in his bouncing, and looked up at the light above him with a puzzled expression on his face. Now that the light was on, Annaliese could see what he looked like. She had no clue who he was, but he was huge; well over six foot tall, if not closer to seven. He was also very stocky and muscular, which made him even more intimidating. On his face, aside from the perplexed expression, was a full, curly beard. His hair was cut short, though it was long enough to have a slight tendency to curl. Both were a dark red. His eyes were a light grey, his skin tanned, and he had a light dusting of freckles across his nose. Wearing a flannel shirt and jeans, he would have looked humorously like a caricature of a lumberjack…. If only he did not have that large hammer in his hands.
“Christ, Rhone… You have the tact of a hand grenade in oatmeal.”
Rhone, the big man, glanced over to the front door, where another man had just walked in. Annaliese almost gasped, but she stopped herself just short of a squeak. It was the same man she had seen in the parking lot earlier, the one with the black hair! Seeing him in light now, he definitely looked like he was trying to play himself off as a bad boy, with his slicked back hair and leather jacket. He obviously spent way too much time on his appearance, as every little thing was immaculate.
“Y-yeah, but Dan! I got the barghest!” Rhone exclaimed, grinning widely.
Annaliese blinked stupidly. Barghest? As in the mythological hell-dogs, bearers of death, of legend? Horrible legends at that, she thought, given her fear of dogs. Surely they were jesting? Certainly there was no way those things actually existed. But… what was the thing that had broken into her house?
“Good for you. But we were supposed to be subtle. Breaking windows and coffee tables with giant hammers are not subtle!”
“I didn’t break the window!!”
“Sure, sure. Hey, where’d the lady go?”
“Oh, she’s behind the bedroom door. She just squeaked, and you can see her shadow.” Rhone pointed towards the door. Annaliese’s jaw dropped and she looked down. Sure enough, her shadow stretched out in front of her, curse the lamp in her room.
“Hey, doll!” the man named Dan called. “You can come out. We’re not going to hurt you.”
Annaliese had no desire to come out of her room. Glancing down at the phone still in her hand, she wanted to call the police and shut herself in her room. But she didn’t move fast enough. In the time it took her to consider the phone in her hand, Dan had stridden across the room and opened the door. “Aw, look how pretty she is when she’s scared!” he cooed. Annaliese jumped, immediately hit him upside the head with the phone (drawing out a very loud “ow! Hey!!”), and darted past him and across the room, heading for the front door.
But Rhone blocked her path, stretching out his arms. “No, no! Don’t run out there! It’s cold and not safe!” Annaliese gasped and stopped dead in her tracks, then backpedaled. He still had that hammer in his hands, and she was still freaked out just by the fact he had one. Rhone’s brow furrowed, then he looked surprised and flustered. “Oh no! No! Don’t be scared of me!! I’ll put her away!” He immediately released his grip on the hammer, which dissipated into a mist almost instantly.
This threw Annaliese off even more. She took another step back; which probably was the worst decision of her life because she stepped into the greasy smear that had been the hound-thing, as well as into shards of glass and a small patch of leftover black fur.
She collapsed.
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~*~
She didn’t remain unconscious for long, however, only a few minutes. But she didn’t open her eyes immediately, as her head hurt terribly. How much wine did she drink was her first thought. Then she remembered barghests and lumberjacks. She had to be drunk to think of that.
But when she opened her eyes, Dan and Rhone were leaning over her while she lay on her couch. She gasped and swung her arm, hitting Dan hard in the nose. “Ow! Why do I keep getting hit!?” he cried, holding his nose and stumbling back.
Annaliese hadn’t hit Rhone at all, but he moved back anyway, biting his lip and looking worried. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to make you hurt yourself!” he mumbled. Annaliese now felt the pain in her foot. She looked down, noticing that it was now wrapped in bloody, paper towels. “I don’t think there’s glass stuck,” Rhone continued. “But you might want antiseptic for that. I don’t know where it is though…” Dan was still cursing in the background and holding his nose.
“Daniel, will you stop whining? I can’t concentrate.” A woman’s voice, soft and calm, spoke now. Annaliese looked down to where a tiny woman was kneeling in front of the remains of the dog. Her hair was cut into a short pixie and dyed a cool grey. Her eyes were dark and her skin pale, like she never went out in the sunlight. Beyond petite in size, it seemed as if only a slight amount of pressure could break her, she seemed that frail and small. An oversized black sweater did nothing to help her. Neither did her grey jeans or black boots. She was very monotone, from her color scheme to her voice and expression. In her hand, Annaliese noticed she was holding a piece of coal, which had a fiery red symbol carved into it.
“’Daniel, will you stop whining?’” Dan mockingly replied in a high-pitched voice, which was nowhere near a correct imitation. “No!! You’re supposed to know it all anyway!” He huffed and glared at the girl.
She only regarded him coolly and quietly. “Your nose is crooked,” she said after a moment, looking back down to what she had in her hand.
Dan gasped loudly, covering his nose with his hands again and running to the bathroom. “No!!” he cried, which was immediately followed by a, “Silva, you bitch! It is not!” He stormed back out, glaring again.840Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjNVRCul28d
“Hey, stop it now!” Rhone commanded in a loud voice. “Dan, don’t call her that. That’s not nice.”
“Well, that’s what she i-“
“What the HELL is going ON!?” Rhone and Dan both jumped as Annaliese yelled out suddenly. Silva didn’t even flinch. Annaliese, though, was over her shock and fear now and was just angry. There was nothing more now that she wanted than answers. “Seriously, who are you people and why did that dog-thing break my window!?”
There was silence. Dan and Rhone looked between each other, as if they were trying to figure out what to say. Silva was still studying the piece of coal. After an uneasy silence, Rhone replied, “Uhm… the window’s fixed?” Annaliese glanced in the direction of the window, which somehow had been fixed, then back at Rhone and renewed her glare. That wasn’t the answer she wanted.
Silva stood up. “Someone summoned a Hellhound to attack you. Though they did a shoddy job at animating it.” She tossed the piece of coal at Rhone. “Destroy that. It’s useless now.” The rune that had once been inscribed onto the coal was now gone. Rhone immediately hurried outside with it.
Annaliese looked at her oddly. “How… and why, did they do that?”
“Well, a human with a strong, negative solar could summon a barghest like that,” Dan started, holding his hand to his chin in a thinking pose. “Or a demon. As for why, we-“
Annaliese cut him off. “A strong what?”
“You don’t know about chakras? That’s weird. The hound followed you home and you saw it earlier, so I figured you did. Hm, how do I explain this…” Dan paused briefly, then continued. “Well, you know the basic meditational chakra thing? Crown, Third Eye, Throat, Heart, Solar Plexus, Sacral, and Root? Having a balance in those is supposed to be good for your health, right? Well, sometimes people can have like, super chakras which can give them super human abilities. Like a DC superhero!” He noticed that Annaliese was looking at him like he was crazy, but he continued anyway. “Anyway, someone with a strong Solar Plexus chakra can have the ability to channel and animate a spirit, like a ghost dog, as well as control it if their ambition and willpower is strong enough! So that’s how.”840Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkXQyTY3M2w
“Uh huh…” was all Annaliese was able to reply.
All of a sudden, the black stain in the floor disappeared, and Rhone came running back inside. “Destroyed!” he exclaimed proudly, grinning at Silva, who only nodded quietly.
“So, how does he summon that hammer?” Annaliese asked, pointing at Rhone. She was humoring Dan’s explanation. “Chakra?”
Dan nodded. “Yup. Rhone’s got a strong Root chakra. He’s a rock.” He pushed on Rhone’s arm, but he didn’t budge. “He’s secure in his abilities, so that gives him strength.” He then pointed to himself. “I, on the other hand, have a strong Crown, so that lets me connect to the “divine,” really anything someone has a strong belief in, and so I can create illusions, barriers, tools, or anything based around that. Since Rhone believes in his strength, I can use that to create a weapon for him. You’ll notice Rhone has a garnet pendant, which helps channel that for him.” Rhone grinned and nodded in agreement.840Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdQnqlz9PVq
“And her?” Annaliese pointed at Silva.
“Third Eye. She can see things others can’t.” Silva didn’t say a word. Rhone was still grinning, and now Dan had a crooked smirk on his face. Annaliese just sat there, blinking. She was trying to think, but it nothing was really coming to her. She was exhausted by this point, and her headache was only getting worse by the minute. She felt like she could just pass out.840Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe5r31koGvi
“Do you know of anything you have that someone would want?” Silva asked suddenly in her next-to emotionless voice. “Anything that has power or value to it?”
Annaliese just shook her head. “No,” she replied. “I’m just a grad student. I don’t have anything worthwhile. I’ve never heard of any of this chakra shit either, or summoning, or superpowers, whatever.”
Dan was looking around the room. “You’re Catholic?” he asked Annaliese. She nodded. “Okay, do you have a rosary? A blessed one would be even better.” When Annaliese told him where it was, in a small cup on her desk, he went and grabbed it along with a pencil. He stood holding it for a moment, standing with his eyes closed, then walked around the room with it. Annaliese had a few religious decorations, mostly touristy things she had collected, around her house; a statuette of the Madonna and Child from Notre Dame in Paris on her counter, a few Byzantine icons on her walls, and a few others. He drew a small cross under or behind each thing in pencil. Finally he stopped and pressed the rosary into Annaliese’s hands. “Alright blondie,” he said, ruffling her hair. She glared at him. “That should create a barrier to keep you safe from anymore doggies, if you really believe in it. If you go out, wear it too.”840Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFTKKAeZhUD
“Okay?”
He chuckled. “You’re about to fall asleep, I can tell. So we’ll let you do that. Here’s my number, if you think of anything later that can help.” He handed her a business card with his name and number on it. “We’ll check in on you later too, don’t worry. G’night doll!” He ruffled her hair one last time and walked out.
Silva shrugged and followed him. Rhone looked between the door and Annaliese for a moment, as if torn on what to do. “I’ll buy you a new coffee table later!” he said, before running to the door. He locked it before closing it and running after his friends.
Annaliese just lay down on the couch and instantly went to sleep.
Author's note: heh... I feel like I'm just making up things as I go along. Oh well.
Critiques? Comments? Suggestions? All are welcome!
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