Static Reflections: Book 1 of The M... - Chapter 41: Chapter 41

That night, Boris had returned to the dream world that Absalom took him to when he wanted to speak with him. The otter had a feeling that the demon would bring him back here once he was unable to kill Pierce. Absalom would give him a different target when he couldn't murder the first.
Back in the chair Boris always sat in; he waited for that spotlight to come on behind him. Minutes passed of staying in the blackness, and it never did. "Hello!" The otter called. Still no response. "Hello?!" Quietly, in the distance, the beginning of that song played again.
Under blue moon, I saw you.
So soon you'll take me.
Up in your arms too late to beg you.
Or cancel it, though I know it must be
The killing time,
Unwillingly mine.
A small flame appeared in front of him, casting an orange glow across his dark fur. Boris watched closely; then, he looked around. "Absalom?! Hello?!"
The song got louder.
Fate, up against your will.
Through the thick and thin,
He will wait until
You give yourself to him.
Boris let a frightened noise escape him as the flame swiftly expanded, surrounding him in a circle, the height increasing almost three times what it used to be. The song continued in the distance, sounding more muffled than before. Without warning, the chair levitated off the cement floor and then flipped over, hanging Boris upside down. The straps tugged at his wrists and rubbed at his shins, the blood beginning to rush to his head.
In starlit nights I saw you.
So cruelly, you kissed me.
Your lips a magic world,
Your sky all hung with jewels.
The killing moon
Will come too soon.
Boris yelled out again, the heat from the surrounding fire causing the suit he was wearing to get moist from his sweat, pressing against his chest. "ABSALOM!"
"Boris," the voice finally responded. "Sorry, little puppet, but I must punish you for failing to kill Pierce Tucker."
"F-failing?! What?!" the otter yelled. "I couldn't! You . . . you saw!"
"You didn't think to stake it?!" Absalom responded. The flames below Boris crawled across the floor, lacing from each side of the fire to cover the circle's area. The shadow form he took was still nowhere evident.
"Where the hell would I have gotten a stake?! Is this some sort of joke?!" Boris screamed at him.
"Don't you know how power works in this world? True power is limited," Absalom explained. "You can take power away from someone and add it to your own with the right abilities, but that power dwindles fast. For my goals, I needed you to kill at least two animals in a short time, yet you failed to murder Pierce Tucker and took them in as a spit in my face."
"N-no!" Boris struggled against his bindings. "I didn't do it to spite you! You told me to bring them along!"
"I also told you that that was your target. You failed the real test," Absalom hissed, Boris's chair lowering toward the flame lashing out at his head below.
"Agh! T-test?! Do you think I would do whatever it takes to kill an animal like that?! You're insane!" Boris started feeling dizzy after finishing this sentence.
"And you're not insane enough," Absalom responded. "Yet. Do you recognize this song? At one point, you knew all of the lyrics. Remember that?"
The otter grunted as he wiggled. "No! I've . . . never heard this song!"
"Huh. So you don't remember. No matter. In time, you will." There was a snapping sound, and suddenly, the song was blaring all around, the flames crackling along with it. A sharp pain stabbed through Boris's head, and he winced. It was utter chaos for his senses. So hot . . . so loud.
"Ah!" Boris cried out as the fire licked at him. "Help! Help me!"
"You're lucky those straps are holding you," said Absalom snidely. "I hope they're as uncomfortable as they look."
"Mmph . . . mgh . . ." Boris's vision started to blur, bright orange and red filling it.
"Time for a new target, then. You will kill Kenneth Green by midnight. If you don't--" The fire in front of him began dragging along the floor in two lines, suddenly running vertically up the wall that had now appeared. The two lines split into many as the fire ran across and burned into the surface, creating an image of two otters sitting on a bed, looking at an open box.
"L-Leah . . . ." Boris mumbled. The fire vanished off the wall, the blackened image of the siblings being the last thing Boris saw before gravity returned to the chair, and it dropped him right into the pit of inferno below.
The otter woke up with a start, sitting up and looking around, panting heavily. Tyler was passed out to his left, hopefully in a better dreamland than the one Boris visited-- no, that Absalom brought him to. Ahead of him, in a chair, Pierce was reading a book with their legs pulled up, humming to themselves.
"Ugh," Boris huffed, shaking his head.
Pierce looked up. "Nightmare?"
The otter looked to the right at his alarm clock, seeing that the electric blue letters betrayed him with their information. "Shit."
"What? What is it?" The lemur asked, closing their book.
Boris got up quickly. "I need to go," the otter announced. "I only have three hours."
"Three hours? For what?" Pierce asked, closing their book now.
"My next kill," Boris said. "I have to get it done by midnight, or he'll make me kill my sister."
Pierce raised a brow. "She's a witch. I think she'd beat you with her dark magic if you tried."
"Something tells me I'd win . . . ." Boris shuddered. "I have to go alone. Tell Tyler that I'm sorry. I just need to focus on this."
"Wait! Let me go with you!" Pierce whispered, standing up. "I can help! You said the world would end if you don't do these things, so I want to help!"
Boris went to his closet, sliding open the door slowly and stealthily taking out one of the suits he put on his bed. "No! You can't come! I need to leave right now, and I don't need any distractions."
Pierce's ears went back. "But . . . I can help!"
"Alright, what's your deal?" Boris asked. "Why are you so eager to come along and murder innocent animals? Are you a psychopath?"
Pierce laughed at the absurdity of the question. "No, I'm not a psychopath, and you're the one who told me to come along with you. I'm only here because of you. You know when Clive comes in tomorrow he's going to lose his shit, right?"
Boris sighed. "Well, Absalom is the one who told me to bring you here. Hold on. You were freaking out about being a vampire before. Aren't you still upset about that?"
"Well, totally. It's crazy. But I'm definitely more upset that vampires are the bad guys, considering I am one. That means the Mortal Guard would be after me. I've been reading this book Leah gave me about us. It's horrifying that we do die in the sunlight, though. I was hoping my fur would glisten like in Moonlight."
Boris frowned. "That's a vital thing to remember. And also, I'm sorry about that."
"I never saw much of the sun anyway, so it works out. I am pressed about how I got turned, though. And why can't I remember?"
Boris took off his pajamas while they spoke, replacing them with his suit carefully. "Well, maybe we can figure that out later. I need to get going right now. Every second that dies while we speak is wasted."
Pierce sighed. "I'll go with you next time. The book talks about unlocking powers, too."
The otter went to the drawer and pulled out two black socks, sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling them on, then found his shoes and finished getting ready. "Alright, I'm off. Hopefully, Tyler's wrath isn't too fiery when I return. And hopefully . . . I'll make it in time."
"Just be careful . . . ." Pierce said quietly. "I'll still be awake when you get back. There's more I want to say, but I'll wait until then."
"Sounds good." Boris opened the door. "Back soon." He walked out and made his way down the hall, stopping in front of Leah's room. Don't worry. I won't fail you. He knew that it was completely messed up to kill an innocent animal to protect someone he cared about, but he just couldn't help it. Is this really how far he went for the people he loved? Was he a psychopath?
No time to think; he had to get moving. Boris began running down the lavish hall, finding the elevator, and getting inside, already on his way to another night of hell.