Dark Possession

by Phaedra Weldon

  "What?" She watched him and noticed he was restless. He picked at the blanket she placed over him, at the edge of the couch where the seams had started to fray, and he constantly ran his hands through his hair. "What does it want you to tell me?"

  "That…oh man this makes no sense. It wants me to tell you that you have the blood of the God Mother. Nothing can be taken from you that you can't get back."

  Rhonda blinked.

  Remi made an apologetic face. "I told you it wouldn't make sense."

  "I don't even know what that means." Rhonda smiled though it was forced. God Mother? Remi said it as if were two words, not like a Godmother in fairytales. What did it mean? Nothing could be taken that I can't get back? The only thing physically taken had been her magic, but that was gone. She'd tried for weeks to make it work, but where her magic lived inside of her was now just a hole. A blank spot of nothing.

  It was gone.

  "Is there anything else to that?"

  Remi shook his head. "No. It's gone now. But it kept saying that all through the movie." He put his hand to his forehead. "Wow…now I have a major headache. Maybe I shouldn't have eaten so much."

  She leaned over and kissed his nose. He shifted and touched his lips to hers and the two locked into a long, passionate kiss. After a few minutes, she pulled back with a gasp as Remi's hand slid along her crotch.

  You know you want it…

  "Rhonda?"

  Remi's hands were on her shoulder and face, not where she thought he'd touched her. She looked down to see her own hand—

  Rhonda stood up.

  "Hey babe…what's wrong?"

  "I—I don't know. It might be I'm tired too. Do you want to sleep here or did you want to come to the bedroom?" The room felt warm. Something pressed itself against her chest as her body continued to react in very sexual way. It took a great deal of control to keep her hands from her pants and fold her arms over her chest.

  His expression went blank as if no thought were there, then he smiled. "No. I think I should stay out here in case I do have something. I don't want to give it to you. But I think I'll be okay to fix pancakes in the morning if you want."

  Rhonda felt herself smile, but the blank look in his face wasn't completely gone. "Yeah…that would be great. Or you could use the spare bedroom?"

  "I'll be fine." He pushed himself down into the blanket. "Good night, Rhonda. I'll clean up the mess in the morning."

  She nodded and hurried out of the room. Once she was in her own bedroom she shut the door without slamming it, but she wanted to. She wanted to yell out because she didn't understand what was happening. Yeah, she'd been sexually turned on before. In fact she stayed that way with Darren because she loved making love to him.

  But this was different. This was something she hadn't thought of with Remi until now. And the need…the desire to please herself was the most intense she could remember experiencing. This was uncontrollable. It was suffocating and sweet, pleasurable but painful. It wanted and it needed fulfillment.

  It wanted…

  Excitement.

  But this wasn't her. Rhonda was sure this couldn't be her.

  Or was it? Was this what real sexual desire was when it wasn't influenced by magic? Was this what it was like to be kissed and want to make love with someone?

  It didn't feel right…but it didn't fell wrong either. It was just…different.

  Rhonda took a long, cold shower before she crawled into bed. Her shift at the grocery didn't start before ten, so she had some time. And she would help make the pancakes in the morning. And maybe…

  Maybe more?

  February 26th

  Dear Uncle,

  I had a weird morning.

  I woke up and Remi was in my bed.

  Then I realized no…I was on the couch with Remi. And we were…

  Damn this is so hard to write, and telling you face to face would be even harder. But… I woke up and we were making love. I don't remember how I got there, if he took off my clothes or I did, but there I was on on top of him! And it was slow and good and everything I'd always wanted love making to be. He watched me the whole time, and when he did, I could have sworn someone else was watching too. Someone that lusted after me, after what I had, after what I…was.

  I heard a voice in my head as Remi and I moved together. It whispered my name, my real name, and it told me what would feel good. It told me what I should do to make Remi feel even better. When Remi moaned, so did the voice. When a sigh escaped my lips, the voice wrapped itself around my body and pulled tight, as if trying to feel what I felt, as if trying to get inside of me.

  I know how ridiculous this sounds. But what was even more ridiculous was that I woke up in my own bed!

  I was never in the living room with Remi. Remi was at the door. He'd made pancakes and then wanted to know if I was okay because I was sweating.

  Uncle, I'm not sure what's going on, but I know it's not normal. And I know it's not Remi. But there's something wrong and I need to talk to someone. I just don't know who. Nona is there, and I know she'll be honest. But I think I need to find someone who doesn't know me or my past.

  Remi called Rhonda several times during the day to check on her while she worked. The sentiment was kind, but she didn't want to think about what she'd dreamed, or what had seemed so damn real. He looked better while they ate breakfast and she felt…tired. As if she really had just finished a sex marathon.

  His eyes were brighter and for the first time since returning from Savannah, he wasn't pale. In fact his skin glowed. As he stood at the breakfast bar in her kitchen, a pair of tongs poised over sizzling bacon, he looked like what she imagined Puck would look. Sensual, alluring… beautiful.

  Rhonda always thought of him as good looking in a sort of feminine way. Which was why most people believed he was gay. Tall, lithe, he could play an elf in a Peter Jackson movie. But he was also suddenly full of brazen sexuality. He kept his shirt off and sweat pants pulled down just above…well…her imagination wasn't wanting when she looked at him. And did he always have such a pronounced six pack for someone so thin?

  He packed her a lunch as well and told her he planned on heading back to his place for the day, but he'd be ready for a night in if she was.

  When she got home, Remi had pulled her mattress in front of the fireplace, covered it in blankets and quilts, bought Champaign, strawberries, chocolate, cheese and crackers, and rented a movie that made her blush just looking at the cover.

  It looked like a fun evening…but it also made her uneasy. This just wasn't like Remi.

  But then what did she know about him? She'd known him two weeks maybe? Was there a sexual deviancy about him that he kept hidden?

  He took her things from her and guided her to the living room before he poured two glasses. When he offered her one, she took it but said, "I thought you didn't drink?"

  He frowned before he answered. "Not usually…no." The frown became a smile. "But I think we should relax this evening and just enjoy each other. I feel much better, and you look like you could use a massage?"

  A massage?

  Rhonda's earlier questions evaporated when she laid down on the mattress on her stomach with her shoulders, head and neck hanging off the mattress's edge. She folded her arms under her and rested her head on her forearms. Remi kneeled beside her. She tensed just a little when he started kneading her shoulders. "There…how does that feel?"

  "It feels good," Rhonda said and tried to relax. Something sent out warning bells. Some part of herself she hadn't listened to in weeks. But she couldn't get a handle on where the feeling of unease came from. Was it from Remi? Or was it from her own fears? He would never hurt her. She was sure of that.

  So…why couldn't she relax?

  "Why don't you take your shirt off?" Remi said in a soft voice. "That way I can work better down your back. You don't have to remove your bra."

  Well…

  Rhonda never considered herself a prude and if she could keep t
he bra on it seemed like a reasonable trade. After she had it off she folded it neatly to the side and took up her position again.

  "Why do you do that?" he asked her.

  "Do what?"

  "Keep everything so neat? I'm not sure I've ever known any one to be so neat about everything." He gave a harsh laugh. "You fold your dirty clothing."

  His words hurt but it wasn't a unique question. She'd always been a neat person. "I like order. I like knowing where things are. If you know where to return things, if you know where they belong, then it relieves stress."

  "And you've had a lot of stress lately?" He started on her shoulders again and he was right, the heat of his fingers felt good on her muscles.

  "Yeah…I have."

  "Friends? Lovers?"

  "Friends. Or friends I used to have."

  "Mm." Remi moved his fingers in circles. "So you like to be in control."

  She stared at a spot on the rug for a few minutes. "Remi, why are your hands so warm?"

  "Because they're rubbing up against you. You know…" he shifted behind her, though his hands never left her back. "I have a sister a lot like you. In fact you remind me of her."

  Sister? She and Remi had already had this conversation. He was an only child, the son of two doctors. She remembered it because he told her he always felt like he'd disappointed them because he never wanted to be a doctor. He'd never gotten the grades to get into pre-med, and he never wanted too. He preferred economics.

  So…why did he lie about a sister? Unless…he'd been lying before. "Remi…you said you didn't have any siblings."

  Remi moved again and this time she felt him get on top of her and settle on her lower back. She pushed up on her elbow and half-twisted to see him straddling her as he massaged her. He didn't answer right away, then, "I do have a sister. I have a twin sister."

  What the hell? Rhonda gasped when Remi shoved her back down. She wasn't expecting the force of his weight on her so her elbows rubbed against the carpet where she hung off the mattress. "Remi that hurt. Let me up."

  "You need to relax." He held her by her shoulders and pressed harder and harder.

  The building feeling of worry, the nagging ache that something was wrong turned into a full blown klaxon of Oh Shit when she realized she was numb from her neck to her toes. Whatever he was doing to her was causing her muscles to relax too much. She tried to wiggle her hips back and forth to get him off of her. Remi tightened his thighs and trapped her painfully between the two. "Ow…Remi what are you doing?"

  "I want you to listen to me, Rhonda. I need you to be relaxed and listen to what we have to say."

  We? Oh no…are there other people in the house? Was that it? He was some kind of pimp that lured naive girls into trusting him and now I'm going to pay for it?

  He laughed as he continued moving his fingers over her neck. She could feel parts of the sheets under her fingers and some of the carpet, but moving them was like swimming through molasses. Her cheek rested against the carpet.

  "There," he said as he continued to move his hands over her back. "I need you to be open to what we can do for you. What you can achieve if you listen and say yes."

  "Remi—"

  "Ssshhh…" he said as he leaned over and put his lips to the back of her neck. "I'm no longer Remi, Rhonda Orly. My name is Scylla."

  Scylla. Rhonda's memory went into overdrive as she tried to remember the significance of the name. "That…that's a mythical name. A sea monster."

  He sat up suddenly and bared down harder. Rhonda cried out at the pain shooting down her back to the base of her hips. "Sea monster. Damned Ethereal tripe. They knew nothing about me. Or about who I was, what I can do, and what I will do."

  Ethereal…

  Rhonda's breathing increased. Ethereal? No! No no no no! She'd turned away from that life. Away from the planes and the magic and the monsters. She no longer wanted any of it! She tried again to push him off of her, to turn and twist, to remember any of the fighting lessons Joe or her uncle taught her.

  But no matter how hard she tried to get up, Remi's—no Scylla's—weight held her in place.

  He laughed in her ear. "I see the fight's come back, child of the God Mother."

  "What does that mean?" She hissed out and never stopped trying to move. Her heavy breathing moved the fibers in the carpet beneath her cheek.

  "I didn't believe my sister." He moved his body to match hers, his arms to hers, his hips to hers, his feet to hers. "When she told me there were so many that didn't know the stories. They didn't know the real histories of how the planes were forged. Or should I say, forced. And then burned."

  Rhonda wished now more than she had in the past month to have just a small bit of her power back. Something. She'd always used it to defend herself, to protect herself from crazies, mortal or planar. She regretted not paying more attention to Joe's insistence that she needed to be physically prepared as well.

  "But you really don't know whose blood runs in your veins, do you?"

  "Remi—Scylla—look, we can talk, okay? Just…get off of me. Please."

  "Are you afraid of me, child? You think I'm going to rape you? Murder you? Perhaps…dismember you?" He laughed and a chill ran down Rhonda's back. "Be assured, little witch, our plans are far more nefarious."

  Rhonda cried out as she tried to push him off. "I'm not a witch anymore!"

  "Oh but you see…you believe the lie. You will be a witch as long as her blood flows in you." He moved his right hand from hers and softly, mockingly, moved the back of his hands over her cheek. "Tell me about this creature who took your power."

  Tears welled up in Rhonda's eyes. This thing wanted to know about Zoë. At first her old heart flared with jealousy, but she managed to cool it. To temper it with the emotions she once felt for her old friend. She closed her eyes and remembered their friendship. "I don't have anything to tell."

  "You could tell me yourself. It could be your last independent act, Rhonda Orly. Trust me…it would be less painful. My sister believes you will resist, and she enjoys pain, and pleasure, even more than I."

  "No," Rhonda said softly. "Please don't."

  "Don't you want your power back, Rhonda Orly? Don't you want to have control of things, people, places? Don't you want revenge?"

  Yes.

  "No!" Her throat burned with the cry and she threw her head back as hard as she could, remembering something Joe showed her once and she hadn't forgotten. The back of her head connected with Scylla's face and to her surprise and amazement—the weight on her back disappeared.

  She rolled away from him, looked to see where he was, analyzed his weak spots and started hitting. She put as much force as she could as she brought her knee into his crotch, then slammed her forehead into his face again. Blood sprayed her, the sheets, her shirt, everything. Without thinking she grabbed the knife beside the cheese and stabbed him in the gut before she scrambled to her feet, grabbed the fireplace mantel for support and then ran to the door.

  Please let the Society be outside. Please let this be one of the days!

  Her hands were slippery with blood as she tried to turn the knob. The deadbolt was thrown. She turned it just as a larger, bloodier hand covered hers and something grabbed the back of her neck like a vice.

  "We do this the hard way then."

  Scylla squeezed her neck as she tried to pry his hand off of her. Her visioned blurred as she reached behind her to find him. Her hand touched something cold and slick and she realized it was the knife, still protruding from his body. She grabbed it, pulled it out and raised her arms and jabbed backwards, over her head.

  He cried out and let her go. She dropped to her knees and lost her grip on the knife, but it was a long enough space of time for her to gather her now desperate wits and summon the power still in her thighs. She delivered a good blow to his chest with her shoulder before she stumbled away from him toward the hallway. She smeared blood on the walls as she grabbed the sides to push herself toward the bedroom. The
re she had a weapon. She had something she'd kept, something from Rodriquez's personal collection of magical things.

  Something she knew would destroy whatever planar had possessed Remi. The fact it possessed him told her it had to be a First Born, but she'd never known a Revenant to act like a homicidal maniac before. Most of the time they were courteous and friendly, to an almost nauseating degree.

  But this…this was raw.

  Angry.

  Sexual.

  And sick.

  Inches from her bedroom door something cold grabbed her ankle and yanked her leg out from under her. She hit the floor face first. Her nose burned and filled with fluid so fast she choked and turned on her side. She opened her eyes to see blood pooling on the rug. He'd broken her nose.

  He dragged her into the bathroom. She grabbed the sides of the door and kicked as hard as she could. But another strike to her face took the fight out of her. Scylla, bleeding from his stomach and a nasty slash along his nose and cheek, pulled her into the bathtub and turned on the cold water. The temperature and shock of it made her flail, but he grabbed her hair and leaned over the tub as he forced her to face the spray.

  Rhonda reached up and grabbed at his arms, his face, anything. When she felt the cold under her rise, she realized he'd stoppered the tub. He planned on drowning her!

  "If you stop fighting me, we can have our talk, Rhonda Orly."

  And there it was…the dual voice. The unmistakeable pairing of First Born and human host. Scylla's darker, deeper voice and Remi's sweet gentle cadence. But had this First Born been inside of Remi all along, or was it recent? How could she know?

  "That's better. Maybe I should have revealed myself sooner." He released her hair, turned off the water and threw a towel at her.

  Rhonda sat up, shivering in the cold water. It reached her ankles. She was chilled, terrified, and bleeding. Blood covered the towel as she held it to her nose. When she looked up, Scylla sat on the edge of the tub.

  The subtle changes she was familiar with a Revenant weren't subtle on his face. They were horrendous. Remi's beauty was twisted into a garish, halloween mask. And his eyes…they weren't black like a Revenant's.