Katie dried her hair as she stepped out of the shower. Slipping on a bath robe, she stepped into the main room, double checking the lock on the door as she sat on the bed.
As she dried her shoulder length black hair, she looked around the room. The motel room was comfortable, but it was still a motel room. She would rather be home in her own bed, but she was close. She could not, would not, turn back now. She had been tracking this thing for over two months now, and was not about to give up.
She stood up, slipping her clothes on, in case she needed to get out quick. She stepped quietly over to the counter next to the bathroom door, and sat down in the cheap folding chair, opening her backpack, and removing the blade from within.
The blade was silver, approximately seven inches long. The hilt was made from bone of some kind and was ornately carved, with a polished piece of amber embedded in the pommel.
Katie herself had narrow features, shoulder length black hair, and naturally tan skin. When she tanned, her skin reddened before it darkened. That was not unusual for the part of the country she was from. In the area of looks, she took after her mother's side of the family.
She began to carefully clean the blade, as she did most every night. She had received the blade as part of an inheritance, when her aunt passed away. A letter had come with it. It had seemed to be the ramblings of a dying woman at the time, and made little sense. She took the letter out and read it again. Now, over two years later, she thought she was going insane, but the letter was starting to make sense.
Perhaps ignorance WAS bliss; after all it was more comfortable.
She sighed to herself as she strapped a leather scabbard around her ankle and slid the knife into it, completing the outfit. It was time to get some sleep; this might be her last chance for a while.
She was almost out of money, so the rest of it would have to go towards gas for her bike. To make things worse, she was on the north side of Cincinnati, and spring was nowhere in sight. If she didn't finish this soon, she was going to get cold.
She lay restlessly in the bed, and went to sleep. She was close. She could feel it. The demon had been here less than twenty-four hours ago. She had to stop it, before it caused any more damage.
Now if only she knew what it looked like.
Katie awoke with a start. Something was wrong, very wrong. The creature had found her, she could feel it. It had tired of running, and was calling her bluff.
She reached for her blade and rolled from the bed, pulling back the blinds just in time for a bright flash of light, and the rumble of an exploding car to fill the air.
Then she saw it. It looked human, but exuded an aura of darkness and evil.
She held the blade tightly in her hand, unsure of what she was going to do next, or even why she was following this thing. All she knew was that it was evil and it had to be stopped, and for whatever reason, it was her job to stop it.
It looked straight at her, evil and malice in its dark eyes.
Katie steadied herself, unlocking the door, and stepping outside to face the beast.
"Leave, while you still live, little witch," it stated calmly. "You don't even know what you are, so how can you expect to defeat me?" it jeered.
Katie stopped there for a moment, first stunned, then scared, then, for some inexplicable reason, angry.
"Yes, little one, I know what you are. Kill me if you can, but then, you may never know," it jeered at her.
A pressure was forming at the back of Katie's mind, as if something was fighting to break free, fighting to awaken. Thoughts rushed unbidden, through her mind, as she started to tense.
This 'thing' had no right to be in this world. It had brought its foul presence to her home town, and had led her on a chase, half way across the country, and now, now it was insulting her. She was angry.
She had waited too long, it was moving towards her.
Suddenly she was no longer scared. Calm settled over her, and she started to move without thinking.
She approached the demon, as another car exploded. Walking through the flames in a red haze, the demon paused to observe the wreckage momentarily, laughing to itself. It had not noticed her movements.
"So, just what do you think I am?" Katie screamed as she charged the surprised demon.
It jerked away, flame erupting from the slash in its side, where the blade struck home. The dagger glowed slightly, as the creatures blood dripped from its tip.
She leapt at the thing, almost snarling, but it blocked her advance. Her bones popped painfully as she slammed into a red Geo Metro, smashing the front passenger’s side window. Katie slumped to the ground in a haze of pain.
When she looked up again, her eyes barely able to open, the demon was standing over her.
"Oh, what a pity. I had hoped it would put up more of a fight," The creature mocked, over her near lifeless form. It turned, full of pride, and began walking away.
Suddenly, the demon cried out in pain and confusion, as the dagger sunk into its back. As the now glowing dagger pierced its black heart, the demon burst into flames.
Katie stood to her feet, and looked at the scene around her. Several cars had been destroyed, the Red Roof Inn was in flames, and there was a charred corpse at her feet. She could hear sirens in the distance and didn't want to have to answer any questions.
Retrieving her knife, she climbed painfully onto her bike, and rode away.
Katie rode on, leaving the motel behind her. It was late, and she was tired. She wanted to put as much distance between her and the place as possible. The only things she knew for certain were that she wanted to get out of there, and she was running low on gas.
She wasn't sure when it had happened; all she knew was that she had apparently fallen asleep. When she woke up, she was flying head first over the handle bars, and into a ditch. She was awake now. Pain flared through every inch of her body, but she was definitely awake, and her bike was scratched to hell. She got to her feet stiffly, and looked the motorcycle over. She wasn't sure how, but it was still in one piece and she was too. She got back on the bike and made her way down the poorly lit highway. She knew there had to be a gas station nearby somewhere.
A short while later, she rode into a truck stop near the edge of nowhere and pushed her bike up to the pump. She started to pump gas into the tank as she looked over her stuff. Seeing the bloodied blade, she took a gas soaked rag, and wiped it clean. That was the last thing she needed was someone seeing the blade and panicking. She hadn't exactly taken the time to look things over before she left the scene, and didn't want to have any more evidence than necessary.
After using a second cloth to wipe some of the gasoline off the blade, she slid it back into its sheath. She put the gas pump back in its place, satisfied that she had enough gas to start her journey home. She walked inside, and started to pull the money out of her pocket to pay for the gas. She knew she had to look like hell, she felt like she was barely able to stand.
"Miss," said the cashier. "Are you ok miss? Do you need a doctor?"
"No, I'm fine," insisted Katie, as everything went black, and she felt herself slipping into unconsciousness.
Her head hurt. She didn't want to open her eyes, but she knew she would have to eventually. For the moment she kept them closed though, as she listened to her surroundings. She could hear people walking around, and the sounds of metal and glass objects being moved around on metal trays and tables. As she opened her eyes a man in a surgical mask smiled down at her.
"Welcome back to the world of the living," the young man's voice said encouragingly. "The worst of your wounds are stitched up, just have a few smaller cuts to work on," he said calmly, as Katie noticed she felt a numb tugging sensation on her arm, where the local anesthetic had taken effect and the doctor was stitching up a nasty slice.
"Doctor," a feminine voice said, "She had her contact information in her wallet. We are going to call her parents."
The doctor just nodded to the orderly as he finished up the final stitches.
"I don't know what exactly you got into young lady, but you are lucky you didn't pass out before you got to the gas station," he said calmly, with a bit of reproach in his voice.
"It was a bike accident," Katie said drowsily, the effects of the accident and the medications still blurring her mind, and her speech.
"You should be more careful next time. Go back to sleep, a nurse will check on you later." The doctor started setting his equipment on the rolling table beside the hospital bed, as Katie felt the effects of the drugs weighing heavily once more upon her. She slept.
The sleep was not entirely drug induced. Her mind was still active; more active than she would have wished, and her dreams were not pleasant.
She was standing in front of it, looking into its eyes. She could feel malevolence in those eyes. It hated her, it wanted her dead, but there was more. Something about the look in its eyes, something about the sheer emotion that was radiating from the beast. There was something more and it created a feeling of dread in the very core of her being. Then it was gone.
She was standing THERE again, at the edge. Something had brought her here. Something had brought her to a place that no words could describe, and she was seeing it again, in her dreams, as she often did. It was a place, that once you have been there, you never forgot. It would haunt her for the rest of her life. That was where she had felt the dread from before, that place that shattered her concept of what is real, that place of which she was still not able to speak.
At first it was darkness, as if she were blind, then she stepped back, and took in the scene before her. It was like a vast expanse of blackness, like an ocean of obsidian that flowed over the horizon and beyond. It was a dark abyss. There was no other name that could be given it, because it predated names.
It had no name.
It needed no name.
It simply was.
As she gazed upon this expanse, it both called to her, and reviled her. She knew at once that it was both a source of great power, and the ultimate source of oblivion. It was the enemy. It was conscious. It was a sentient. It was the embodiment of oblivion, nothingness, fear, and pain. It was not hell, it was not a demon, it was nothing so simple as a devil which could be banished to another plain. It was the source, and she could feel the sheer energy coming from it. It radiated pain, anger, fear, everything that could possibly be negative, and the sensation went directly to her soul.
She was at a crossroads, and the time to choose had arrived. She turned away from it, partly in fear, and partly because her every instinct said that it was the enemy. It was what she was meant to fight. She knew instinctively that she would likely die in the battle, but there was more at stake than a simple life. She somehow knew that death was only a reprieve, not the end. She would fight. That was the decision she had made.
When she awoke, she was alone in her hospital room. The doctors had left and the lights were low. She could still feel the cold chill running through her bones. It was an after effect of the dream. It was a dream she had experienced many times over the past two years. She shrugged it off as best she could, which was not difficult as she had an ache in her shoulder that would not quit, and that was currently the least painful part of her body.
As she looked around, an orderly walked in. "Oh, your awake I see. How do you feel?" he asked, with a bit of a smile.
"Like I was hit by a truck," Katie said tiredly.
"I would guess so, you were pretty beaten up. The doctor said to let you know that your parents are on the way. You're an awful long ways from home miss."
"I suppose so," she replied. She knew she was far from home, and she missed her parents. She would have to make up the lost time from school and would be grounded for life, but she still missed her parents.
"Thanks," she said, deciding that she was grateful for his concern, and for the news that her parents were on the way.
"No problem," he said, as he looked at her chart, and turned to leave. "Get some rest." He left the room as quietly as he had entered.