Out of the Darkness

156

"A demon realm? What the fuck have you guys been up too?! Did y'all forget that you can actually be hurt? Or even worse, killed?!" Sam walked back in, at that moment, carrying a plate of cheese, crackers, and grapes that we had left over from a couple of nights ago. My stomach growled in response. I guess the popcorn didn't really do anything for me. "Samuel John Golbach, what the fuck have you been doing?!" Kat yelled at him. He stopped in his tracks, his eyes going wide. They bounced from Kat to me, then back to Kat. "Huh?" he asked, then passed the plate to me. I started eating immediately because the nausea was actually getting pretty bad. "You know what I'm talking about! Did you go to this demon realm too? Did you almost die and not tell me? You've been risking your life, and I didn't know anything about it! How dare you keep this from me!" "What did you do?" he hissed at me, before he walked around the bed to sit next to her. "Babe, I didn't know what was going to happen. I was just trying to help my best friend. You know that I'm always okay though. Nothing is going to happen to me." She sniffed and looked down as he took her hand in his. "You don't know that," she whimpered. "I don't know what I'd do without you. Can't you just be a boring, normal, safe guy? Just for a little while?" He grinned and shook his head. "That's not who I am. That's not who you fell in love with. I promise that I'm careful. I will always do whatever I can to come back to you." She looked up and met his gaze, then gave him a small smile. He leaned forwards and pressed his lips to hers, in a long, drawn out, sweet kiss. I started to feel uncomfortable after a minute, and stole a glance at Anna. She had her head turned away from Sam and Kat, her cheeks flaming. I chuckled softly, and her head snapped back to my direction. "Bite me," she replied, then grinned. "Gladly," I replied, wagging my eyebrows up and down. She blushed harder, and looked away. I laughed again, and went back to shoving food into my mouth. Sam and Kat were speaking in hushed tones now, and I saw Sam steal a glance at me, before murmuring something to Kat again. "Sam, I'm going to that house. And soon. I can't keep waiting around and my arm doesn't really seem to be getting better," I said, knowing what he was probably whispering about. He cleared his throat and looked at me, guiltily. I knew it. "Brother, I really don't think that's a good idea. We almost died last time. If it hadn't been for Anna, we probably would have. You're not at your full strength. We would be moving a lot slower than normal, and I would have to pay more attention to you, which will put us both in danger. We should find another way," he replied. I just shrugged. "Doesn't matter. None of that matters. You don't have to go. I told you that. I do. I don't know why, but I do. There's something there, in that house. Something we missed before. I know it. If I could just find it, then-" "You're talking crazy!" Sam interjected. "You have no idea what you're looking for, so how do you know it's at that damn house?! This is my fault. We never should've went there in the first place. No. I will chain you up, I swear I will, Colby. You're not going to that house." I stared at him for a moment, noticing the fear in his eyes. He was worried about me, and afraid of what was going to happen to me. I already knew that the infection in my arm was spreading. I could feel the pain almost in my shoulder now, and there were black lines tracing my veins. The salve that Ash had given us wasn't helping to heal it. It only helped to slow the process and to deaden the pain a little. "We both know that my arm isn't healing, Sam. I know that I don't have a lot of time left. There's apparently no cure for a demon infection," I said, in a hushed tone. "Colby, that's not-" "It is," I cut him off. "We both know it is, and there's no point in pretending otherwise. I can feel it spreading, Sam. I need to go to that house. I need to do this, before I can't do anything at all." He was quiet, while he held my gaze, thinking over my words. Of course, I didn't want to die. It just didn't seem like I had much of a choice. "Okay," he sighed. "On one condition." I nodded, and waited for him to continue. "We try to find anyone who can help you. Just because Ash couldn't, doesn't mean that there isn't someone that can help. There's got to be someone. I can't watch you just give up. I need you to fight to stick around, brother. Who else would do this dumb shit with me?" I laughed a little and nodded. "Deal. We'll start researching tomorrow and call everyone that we come across." "Colby?" I heard Anna call my name and looked over at her. She was holding a thick chained necklace, with a black stone set in a transparent locket. "What about this? I feel...something coming from it." I stared at the necklace and watched the light bounce off of the black gem. My amulets that the witch, Amethyst, had given me. I had forgotten about them. I held out my hand and a feeling of calm and peace washed over me, as Anna rested it in my palm. "Isn't that...?" Sam asked, and I nodded. "The protection amulet that Amethyst gave me. There's a ring too." I turned back to Anna. "Do you see the ring?," I asked, pointing to my dresser. She shifted through some old receipts and things that were cluttered there, then picked something up. She seemed transfixed by the bluish stone set in the bulky silver band, as she stared at it. Then she let out a sharp "AH!" dropping it back on the dresser. "What happened?" Kat asked, standing up and walking over to her. "It burned me," Anna replied, shaking her fingers out. Kat picked the ring up and stared at the gem. "It's beautiful," she whispered, turning it over in her hands. "I feel...safe." "Let me see it," I said, still holding my hand out for it.