Dark Moon - Michael Langdon

Part 8 - Visions

"Shit, is she awake?" Queenie asks. I open my eyes to see a roomful of witches all staring at me while I'm on the floor in the hallway where Michael and I disappeared from.

"She'd better be," Michael sighs. I glance over and see him hunched over his knees, out of breath.

"I am," I announce as I sit up, bringing everybody's attention back to me.

"Did you have another encounter with best friend Satan?" Queenie jokes.

"Yeah," I reply in a scoff.

"What did he want?" Cordelia asks worriedly.

"He said he wanted to send a symbolic message. Then he tried to rip my heart out. That asshole is lucky I didn't rip his out," I mutter as I pull myself to my feet.

"Jesus, I didn't know you had beef with the devil," Madison remarks amusedly.

"Are you surprised?" I joke.

She shakes her head and chuckles. "Hell no."

I laugh, then feel a pain in my chest. I furrow my brow as I run to the bathroom. Madison, Queenie, and Michael follow me, but I ignore them. I quickly lift my shirt up once I reach the mirror and stare at my chest.

"Oh shit," Queenie gasps, staring at the three scars running parallel to each other across the spot where Satan reached into my chest.

"Holy shit," Madison mutters, lifting my jacket in the back. "There's another set of them back here."

I turn around in the mirror and catch a glimpse of them on the spot where I was stabbed. "How the fuck did those get there?" I mutter, letting my shirt drop back down.

"The mark of Satan," Cordelia states grimly from the doorway.

We all turn to face her, not having known that she was there. "The what now?" Queenie asks, saying what we all were thinking.

"I haven't ever seen it before," Cordelia continues, stepping towards us. She lifts the back of my shirt to examine the scars.

"What do they mean?"

"You're marked," she sighs as she releases my shirt. "If Satan sends a demon after you, it will be able to trace you through those scars."

"Did I get them because I was stabbed?" I ask.

"Yes.  They happen when Satan gives somebody what should've been a fatal wound, but the person survives. It rarely happens, and the people who receive them always end up getting killed, one way or another."

"Is there any way to get rid of them?" I ask, already knowing the answer.

She shakes her head. "Not until Satan kills you."

I gulp. "Well fuck."

Madison scoffs.  "So what, we just let Satan kill her?" she interjects.

Cordelia shakes her head and sends me a reassuring look. "We'll do everything in our power to protect you, Esmeray."

"But won't that put you guys at risk?" I ask. "I'll be leading Satan straight to you."

"We've got a whole coven on our side, plus you and Michael. He knows that if he comes after you while you're with us, he doesn't stand a chance."

......

"Shit!" I yell at Michael. He quickly withdraws his hand from my chest.

"Are you sure this is working?" Queenie asks as I press my hand against the scars on my chest.  I can see her looking around our bedroom that we now share with Madison, making sure nobody heard my yell.