Static Reflections: Book 1 of The M... - Chapter 61: Chapter 61

Adam followed the directions on the car's screen accordingly, still attempting to wrap his head around the entire night. He had woken up in 2021, gone out to hunt a feral animal for blood, got teleported to a strange realm and was told he could see Neil again, tried to kill Tyler, the animal that had been kind to him, and then got teleported to another strange realm and did see Neil again, one last time. Adam had to keep from crying the whole way.
Once he arrived back at the manor, he sat in the front seat, wiping his eyes and looking at the large house. There would be no way he would be able to drag Tyler all the way over there. "Yo, Tyler! Hey, Tyler! Wake up!" He snapped his digits multiple times. When the canine didn't move, Adam reached over and pinched his neck hard.
Tyler's eyes flew open and he looked around. "Mm, wha?! Mmm, mmph. . . mm?!" The pain hit him as he sat back. "Mmm . . ." It took a second more before he realized he was gagged and his eyes widened, snapping to Adam angrily.
"Calm down, calm down! I only did it to try and slow the bleeding! I promise I wasn't gonna do anything! Look!" Adam carefully brought his hands up to Tyler's mouth. The canine just kept his brown eyes on him, watching for any sudden movements. Adam untied the shirt and pulled it from his maw. "I need you to tell me how to call Lee," Adam said. "I don't know how to use your phone and you're wicked injured."
"Are you gonna . . . kill me . . . ?" Tyler asked, his voice coming out very low.
"No! No, I'm done with all that shit," Adam said. "I'll tell ya later but right now I gotta call Lee." He grabbed Tyler's Rhiphone and held it over.
The canine weakly unlocked it with his digit and tapped around, opening the contacts. "In the search bar . . . type 'Leah.'"
"Uh, okay . . ." Adam blinked, trying to follow Tyler's example and tapping on the screen. When the digital keyboard came up, he spelled out 'l-e-a-h' slowly. The contact 'Leah Downing' came up and he tapped on it. Seeing the 'Call' button, he pressed it and held the phone up to his ear, waiting as it rang.
"Hello? Tyler? I'm kinda in the middle of something," Leah said.
"Lee!" Adam yelped. "Come outside the gate, right now! I know I said you could trust me and shit but I totally burned you! I tried to kill Tyler!"
"What?!" Leah gasped. "Where the hell is he?! What happened?!"
"Just come outside, dude! I'm having a cow!"
"I'll be right there!" Leah yelled, hanging up the phone.
By the time she got there, still wearing her pajamas and tennis shoes, she opened the door and looked inside, mouth falling open. Tyler had passed out again, but blood had completely stained the fur on his cheek and the shoulder of his shirt. He was still covered in pine needles, dirt, and grass. "Oh, my gods . . . What the fuck happened? There's a hole in his cheek!"
"I stabbed him with this crazy blade!" the shirtless Adam exclaimed. "And then hit him with the car!"
"Why?!" Leah checked Tyler's pulse and glanced at the body of her brother, occupied by a stranger.
"There's a lot I need to tell you," said Adam. "So much happened while we were out, somehow."
"This must have been one of the most insane twenty-four-hour periods in Tyler's life," Leah commented. "Alright, I'm going to teleport him into the tub."
"You can do that?" Adam gawked.
"It's against coven rules to use teleportation unless it's absolutely necessary. We always master it for emergencies, but spells like healing take a little more time."
Adam nodded. "Yeah, it would be a terrible idea to try and drag him through the house. Uh . . . go ahead and do your thing, I guess?"
Leah nodded. "On it."
"Wait, wait, wait," Leah blinked, eyebrows furrowed, sitting on the windowsill of her red, pink, and white room. "So you're . . . Boris?"
"More like Boris is me," Adam corrected. "It happened 'cuz when I tried to do a ritual to summon Absalom, I did it wrong and bonded him to whatever body I was in while losing most of my memories, too. My Soul wandered for a while and ended up with Boris."
Leah blinked, rubbing her claw on the window sill. "That must have something to do with why I'm a witch," she said.
"Huh?" Adam blinked.
Leah got up, moving about the room. "So witches are born when a magical anomaly occurs during a mother's pregnancy. It rarely happens, but some births are purposely manipulated so a witch is born. Your Soul found his way to Boris as he was born, and as weird as this sounds, it must have made the next child, me, a witch."
"Ooooh," Adam nodded. "That's confusing."
"I know," Leah told him. "It's like the supernatural energy attaches to the baby in the womb, somehow."
"Yuck." Adam stuck his tongue out. "Anyway, after my boyfriend got out of prison, he joined the Mortal Guard and became a completely new animal. Absalom told me that he'd send me back to the 80s, and I could live the life I always wanted with Neil. All I had to do was kill Tyler, and I missed Neil so much that I didn't think and just tried to do it . . . That's how I found out that your bro is still in here."
Leah turned to him. "Wait, really?"
"Yeah! He asked me not to kill Tyler, and I even got to see the goat version of Neil one more time! So yeah! Now I'm here telling you that I'm ready for whatever you're planning to help me!"
"I have discovered a way," Leah revealed, nodding. "I'm gonna wait just a second, though."
"I'm sorry that I tried killing Tyler," Adam sighed. "That was awful."
"I get it," Leah exhaled. "You wanted to see your boyfriend again after seeing what he'd become. Honestly, since Absalom is involved, I'm not mad at you. He's the real parasite here. But that was a completely idiotic trap to fall for on your end."
"Careful," Adam whispered. "I bet he's totally listening. The creep."
"He's not strong enough to do anything to a witch yet," Leah goaded.
"I'm just glad you were able to heal Tyler." Adam rubbed his arm. He gasped. "Shit! We got distracted! The blood for the vampire!"
"Oh, Pierce hasn't really done anything since you left. I checked on them just before you got here. They've survived."
"I'm gonna go check on them," Adam stated. "Wanna come?"
"Sure, why not?" Leah shrugged. The two walked into the hallway and went to Boris's room, where they left Pierce. Opening the door, the pair were surprised to see that the white bed sheets had been stained where Pierce's arm lay, the rest of the animal still laying on their side. Pierce had their fangs dug into their limb, and they were sucking hungrily.
"What the hell?!" Adam shouted.
Pierce pulled back, scarlet around their lips and painting their teeth. "Oh, um, this? Sorry, I got super impatient waiting for you, and I didn't wanna hurt anyone, so I just . . . did it to myself."
Leah stepped from behind Adam. "Um, how are you feeling . . . ? Did it work?"
"Yeah," Pierce nodded. "I don't feel as strong as I used to, but it worked."
"Good, 'cuz Tyler and I failed to get you anything," Adam frowned.
"Where is he?" Pierce asked, wiping their bloody mouth with their arm.
"Some crazy stuff happened with Adam, and he got hurt. I used a healing spell on him, and now he's washing up. I think he was already done by the sound of it when we were in the hall," Leah explained.
Pierce nodded. "Now that I know I can drink my own blood, I feel a lot better about being a vampire. Maybe I can even help you guys now!"
Leah nodded. "We still need to be very careful. The Black Cross still want to get their grubby paws on you for whatever reason. I placed a protection spell on the manor right after you left, by the way. I had to sleep after I used it, but when I woke up, I continued working."
A door opened behind them, and everyone looked out into the hallway, a German shepherd with the towel wrapped around his waist walked out of the bathroom. He looked at them, blinking behind his purple glasses. "What?"
Leah and Adam moved from the door so he could come in. "Are you alright, Tyler? How does your face feel?"
"It feels normal," Tyler told her. "I guess you patched me up, huh?"
Adam looked down, still without a shirt. "Tyler, man. I'm so sorry I tried to kill you. I was desperate to see Neil again . . . ."
The canine raised his hand. "I hope you never do it again. I understand where you're coming from. Sorta. I stayed with Boris this entire time because I cared about seeing him how he used to be when he wasn't possessed." He looked and saw Pierce on the bed, the fur on their arm covered in vermillion. "Woah! What happened to you?"
"I drank my own blood," Pierce told him.
"That worked?" Tyler blinked.
"Yeah! Somehow!"
"Huh."
"Tyler, there's something I gotta tell you," Adam announced.
"Yeah?" The dog tilted his head, keeping his hand on his towel so it wouldn't fall off.
"Boris still exists," Adam revealed. "He figured out how to take me to a wack dream realm that he created, but he was really there! If we can just figure out how to bring him back somehow . . . . ."
Tyler smiled widely. "Thank god, I can get him back. If only we could get rid of this fucking possession, huh?"
Leah yawned, placing a hand over her open mouth. "You two have been through a lot tonight. I think it's time to get some rest. But first, I need to show Tyler something. So get dressed because I don't wanna see that if your towel falls off."
The canine laughed and walked further into the room toward his suitcase. "Alright, alright. I'll see you in a second. Pierce, don't look!"
The vampire buried their face into the smeared pillow. "Not looking, not looking!"
"See you in a second. Come on, Adam." Leah let out a small laugh.
Tyler strolled into Leah's Valentine's Day-themed room in mid-stretch. "I have an idea!"
"Shoot," Leah gestured.
"Have you seen your reflection yet?" The German shepherd asked Adam.
"Nah, dude. Not yet. Hasn't really been a chance, or it's just been too dark."
"Try looking in the vanity," Tyler suggested.
Adam slowly walked over to the mirror with the lights dotting the border and peered at the glass, finding that it was the same animal he had met before killing Tyler: Boris.
"I knew it!" Tyler nearly shouted. "He's really still in there! How do we get him out?!"
Leah grabbed a sizable leather-bound book off of the desk and held it up, clacking her claws on the cover. "I got this book from a vampire named Simon. He's one of the good ones. Long story short: it has the ritual we need to save Boris. There are basic things about Absalom in it that could help us."
"Great! How do we start?" Tyler asked eagerly, ready to see his friend again and give him a much-needed hug.
"Sadly, we can't do anything for a few days," Leah frowned. "The ritual has to be done just right. Adam, you have experience with botched rituals, so you understand. I need time."
"Aw, shit," Adam sighed. "I was really hoping we could get this thing out of me fast. What if he makes me kill again?"
"Don't worry. We'll be better about that," Leah nodded. "Anyway, Tyler, you're the key to the entire ritual. It requires a pure connection, and all of us here aren't pure except you. You're the only one of us not tainted by magic or the fact that you're a creature."
Tyler put a hand on his chest. "So you're saying that . . . I'm the only one who can really save Boris, huh?"
"Yes. You're the only one that's going to be able to enter his Chaos Realm. And it's going to be tricky."
"I don't care," Tyler fired back, shaking his head. "I'm ready to get Boris back right this second. What do I gotta do?"
Leah opened the book, finding a marked page. "So here's how the ritual works—"
Meanwhile, somewhere underground . . .
King, the red fox, stood looking over the railing at a large cavern bustling with members of his group, the opposition to the Mortal Guard. Straight ahead of him was the bottomless pit they had built their operations around. At one point, they had tried to descend to the bottom of the hole, but the rope wasn't long enough. It seemed to truly have no end.
King looked around, looking at the fine progress he had been making. He felt good. Not only had he gotten Pride first, but now he had absorbed the essence of Greed too. It was all a means to an end: The combination of the Other Side with the Mortal Realm.
There were still far too many plans to come, but King was much more excited about the fact that he had finally met Absalom. The God of Chaos had called out to him once before, but he was never able to break into that realm he was calling from. He would have to wait.
Eventually, he began having strange dreams. First, he could feel that he was in the realm as a puppet. He couldn't see, not hear anything, but he felt his hands being tugged around by strings. The second time, he could see, and there was an otter there, sitting in the chair. An energy so strong came off of him, the same as the other two Deadly Sins. There was no doubt about it: that otter was a Sin. But which one?
Next time, he was a little more complete, able to hear and see and feel. He was so close to being fully there. It would just take a little more . . . .
Finally, he fully appeared in the Chaos Realm, seeing the otter again and even meeting Absalom for the first time. He also found out that the otter had been Wrath in the end. It was indeed an exciting discovery that he was eager to get right back into it when he left the dream. Seemingly, Absalom still wasn't strong enough. Someday soon, then. They had much to discuss.
Footsteps approached behind, and an animal joined him by his side, a golden-furred striped hyena wearing a dark coat. "Greetings, King."
King didn't look at him, still watching all of the little animals run amok down below. "Ivan. How was the mission to Downing Manor? I take it things went well?"
"Not at all," Ivan hissed. "One of the damn sisters turned out to be a witch. They were hiding Pierce Tucker right beneath our noses! She brought her fucking coven in and used a sunlight spell. Eugh . . ."
"Apologies to hear that. I know you were eager for a new member of the Black Cross. Serves you right for being reckless with your little feeding party."
"Reckless? How dare you!" Ivan bared his fangs.
King reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, futuristic-looking prism. "Try anything, and I'll remove every single year left of your eternal life. You've been more aggressive than usual lately, and I'm not sure where it comes from, but you ought to cease before I make you."
"Urgh . . ." Ivan huffed. "Fine. There was some merit to the mission in the end, at least."
"Oh, and that is?"
"The Sin you were looking for-- the otter Wrath-- did end up being there. The others all agree that we felt the energy coming from him. It's just as you saw in your dreams."
King smiled devilishly, placing his hand on the smooth railing. "Then it's all coming into place. Do you plan on trying to extract the vampire again?"
Ivan nodded. "Absolutely. But we'll need some time to plan. What about you?"
"I've got to wait until Absalom summons me again, then move forward with our plans. Right now, all it is is waiting."
"I have to ask: Were those thirty suicides around the Mortal Realm you testing something? How did that work?"
"No, but I would be interested in working with the animal who did it. Having that ability could be very useful in the future. As our plans get bigger, the Mortal Guard is sure to try and intervene. That's why we've got to be ready to fight. Luckily, I was in all ten Sects and know them inside and out. We're at an advantage."
Ivan sighed, staring into the endless pit in front of them. "I can't wait to feast on as many mortals as I want again. It will be so much better than having to sneak around just so the Guard doesn't shove their hands up our asses and try to make us puppets."
"Everything will be so much better when this is over," King nodded. "Just you wait."
Ivan huffed a chuckle. "Already have been."