Covens and Proxies

28

Toby's POV

The entire morning was torment.

After an hour walk to my home, a lecture on maintaining relative self-control, and getting shoved at gut-wrenching speeds between time and space all the way to Australia, I was so ready to spill blood. But this thing we're chasing is elusive, and without (Y/n) to keep me calm, I'm going to pull a Jeff and slaughter the whole damn town.

Rouge and Masky are trying to heard the beast towards Hoodie and I so we can kill it. The issue is that we don't even know what it is or what it looks like. Slenderman never gave us a picture.

I lean on a wall with my sleeve pushed to my elbow, examining all the thin, glisten scars that adorn the flesh. All were cuts that went to the bone. All were healed by (Y/n) within seconds. She was left exhausted, but it was so beautiful.

The way she takes on such a serene expression, while at the same time looking so focused and determined, is why I enjoy her magic so much. The warmth was how it started. But now, I just want to feel her love. I want to feel her care and delicate touch when she seals up my wounds, I want to sense her digging in my mind to unravel the excruciating pain that builds up from a lifetime of hate and suffering.

"Quite starring at you damn arm, Toby. Focus." Hoodie snaps.

I smirk under my mask. Him and Rouge have been pestering me about where Masky had taken me when I was 'recovering'. Thankfully, he gave me the cover-up story on our walk home. The details are easy to forget or smudge.

"I'm fo-cused." I retort, running my thumb over a jagged memory of an old bullet wound. On of the first few she fixed. Shot right through the elbow. That target was a nasty jackass with impossible aim.

"I mean at the fucking mission. Before I shoot you." My accomplice growls.

I roll my eyes, pulling my sleeve back down and drawing my hatchets. "Where are-are they?"

He shakes his head. "I don't know. But they better pick up the pace."

I chuckle. "Got the itch?" He grunts, making me laugh more. I have to shut myself up before I wake the neighbors--or start crying and screaming and try to kill one of my best friends. "You do-don't know the half of-of it."

He only spares me a glance before going back to watching the empty street.

But it's true. None of them, not even Jeff, know the slightest bit of how I felt all through my vacation. Every molecule of your very being vibrating so much it hurts when an innocent girl is less then three feet from you, or cuddled in your arms as you watch tv. It would've been so, indescribably easy to slit their throats. It would've been so intoxicating to spill their blood.

But I couldn't. I knew I couldn't live without her, and killing Zemra would pile on so many problems it makes my headache worse at just the thought. So I kept it inside. Only when (Y/n) untangled my brain did I get any semblance of peace of mind. And on that last night, her sleeping body curled to my chest, it was so much worse. Because I knew I could spill blood soon. I knew I'd get to hear their screams and pleade for mercy and the hot, crimson fluid of life that flows through their veins would stain my clothes again.

Footsteps pull me from my daze, drawing my attention. Someone stumbles into the ally, the light catching her hair as she swings to face us, a book aloft by her side. I can't move.

Her eyes are staring at me as though I'd stabbed her, just like in my fantasies. Her breath is ragged as though she'd run miles to escape. Her hands are covered in blood. Like the night she'd slaughtered those thugs.

Hoodie moves to shoot, but I've already reminded myself that that's not (Y/n). And even if it were, it's only a cheap clone that I can kill without remorse!

I lunge for the beast, roaring as my blades are raised high. For a split second, I see the true creature underneath. It's skin a pasty grey, mottled and sagging; it's hair like straw dipped in frying grease; it's mouth blackened, rotted, it's teeth full of holes with yellowed rims; it's eye sockets hollowed around buldging orbs of sickly purple with paled, almost white, yellow pinpricks that follow my movement.

And then (Y/n) is back, staring at me with such a terrified gaze my ears start ringing and my sight goes red. I scissor my axes through her neck, sending her head flying. Red blood splashed across my face, my neck, my jacket. The head rolls on the ground, permanently frozen in mortification.

After a moment, Rouge and Masky catch up. The blood starts to sizzle and pop until it's black, the skin of (Y/n) melting in a screaming pile to reveal the grey flesh of a hag. We all watch, panting slightly, as it curls into a fuming pile of ash.

"That thing is disgusting." Rouge sneers, making the other two laugh.

I don't say anything. I can't. I don't know what I can say. Would it be safe to ask if they saw something else? A sack of skin wrapped around the target like a mask? It couldn't be a mistake the creature looked exactly like the love of my life, the only person I've broken my skull over to spare.

An electric shock runs through me like a bolt of lightning, realization slamming into me like a tidal wave. This was a test. Slenderman sent me on this very specific mission to see if there's anyone I wouldn't kill, to see if there's a face in the world that I couldn't make cold.

Now the question is, did I pass? Are any of these three watching me? Did Hoodie notice my hesitation? Is Rouge watching me glare at this smoldering ash pile, questioning why? Did Masky tip him off and this being the proof?

I smirk and shake my head, looking up at the houses. A blind is shut, a curtain swishes, and everything goes black.
~
~
The next thing I know, I'm standing in the center of a circle of bodies. Four. Four young men and a teenage girl huddle, ripped to her skin, crying. They'd been trying to rape her. Hoodie has a gun leveled at her head; Rouge and Masky are taking care of the other neighbors. I push Hoodie's hand down, kneeling next to the girl.

"Are you al-alright, girl?" I ask softly, trying not to scare her.

Her skin is rubbed red, bite marks adorning all her shoulders and chest, purple hickeys already getting darker on her breasts. She's bleeding from her core. Definitely not good. I take out my spare phone and unlock it, setting it in front of her.

"We won't hurt you." I tell her slowly, earning a 'what the hell man?' gesture from Hoodie. "This is so-so you can call the po-poli-ice," I struggle with the words, "and an ambulance. Tell them-them nothing about us, and yo-you'll be okay."

She swallows, taking the phone and nods. "Who-who who are you?" She stammers around a quivering voice and choking tears.

I smirk to myself. I'm a mass-murderer that has found a soft spot for young girls. "I'm Tobias." Is the last thing I tell her before walking out. We go next door, killing the crack whore and her boyfriend tripping on LSD, calling us demons.

In the alley, Masky and Rouge are waiting. Hoodie grabs me by my collar and slams me into the wall, getting in my face. I cough as air is shoved the wrong way through my system.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" He shrieks, spitting through his mask.

I laugh. "It's called mer-mercy. I kind of dig it."

The other two walk over, Masky grabbing our friend's shoulder. "What happened?"

Hoodie rips me from the wall and throws me to the ground, the gravel digging into the little exposed skin I have. "This dumbass just let a girl go." He points at me, glaring at Masky, who pushes his mask up and lights a cigarette. "You idiot!" Hoodie snarls, smacking the death stick away and yanking the mask down again.

"You need to chill out." Masky tells him, helping me up. "She's not gonna say shit to anyone. And if she does, we'll come back and kill her. She probably thinks Toby here is some kinda vigilante." He smacks my chest, making me smile.

Rouge is calling Slended to report our success while Hoodie passes relentlessly back and forth, going on about security and duty and all the other bullshit he takes pride in as a proxy. Masky and I exchange meaningful look, both sarcastic and him warning for me to watch myself. I shrug before our only female companion turns to gives us new orders from the boss.