The Club

Forty- Two

It's really happening.
The ritual. This stupid marriage. It's all really going to happen. When Vonik and I returned, they had everything set up. There's a alter where I'm supposed to get married to Tynan, but the book was there too. I felt nervous about this, but I just keep telling myself that it's all to save Joz. Nothing else matters. Another upside for doing this ritual is that my real dad would be free of Mr. Dubuik's hold, and also the devil's hold. I watch nervously as Mr. Dubuik finishes up the preparations for the ritual. The pentagram has already got drawn, and unlike the first one I saw, they didn't put down coal around the edges. Blood was still involved, unfortunately.
I watch as they both were by the table that they took out of the tent, and they were busy mixing stuff. I know it was mostly blood, but I know it was other stuff, too. I honestly don't want to know what they are. I glanced over at Vonik who's watching Mr. Dubuik and Tynan with an enraged expression. I glance down towards his fists and saw them into fists as he's slightly shaking. I can just feel how angry he is with them by how his power is practically on display and how cold it is circling around us. Is he still pissed about what happened earlier? I wonder to myself.
"No. He's not." Naberius nearly whispers which was odd.
"Then what's going on with him? Why is he angry again?" I ask him in my mind.
"The blood. The heart. He knows who they belong to." Naberius says, sounding a little weird.
"Are you okay, Naberius? You don't sound like yourself." I ask him, confused but a little concerned.
Naberius doesn't answer me, and I honestly should've known that he wasn't going to. I glanced back towards Mr. Dubuik and Tynan, and saw Mr. Dubuik holding a bloody heart in his hand. I felt deep inside of me I should know whose heart that belongs too. As I stare at it, I have a bad feeling as I think I do by how Vonik is acting and how I'm feeling now. I'm hoping I'm wrong, but there has been so much bad stuff happening lately, and I'm afraid to know the answer.
I let out a shaky breath as I stood up, wiping my hands on my jeans that I ended up borrowing. I look over at Vonik who I caught the attention of and I saw the concern in his eyes. I glanced back at Mr. Dubuik and Tynan as I see them mixing everything in, including the heart. I swallowed before looking back towards Vonik who looks to be having trouble controlling his anger.
"Are you okay?" I ask, hoping to change the subject from the ritual.
"I-no, not really." Vonik nearly growls but clears his throat.
"Once the ritual is over with, you will be free." I tell him, thinking that's the reason he's mad.
Vonik gives me a small sad smile before looking over at me, "Thank you, but I'm mostly mad at who they are using for the ritual."
"Who?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows.
"You, of course, and the other person is your mother." Vonik tells me with a sigh.
"Wait- what? How? I thought they killed my mom?" I question him, which made him look over at me with confusion before he realized.
"I-I'm sorry, but I meant you real mother, not your adopted mother." Vonik says awkwardly.
"Oh. But wait, I thought she died as well?" I ask, confused.
"Unfortunately, she is, but they are using her blood and heart for the ritual." Vonik tells me, trying not to growl at the end.
My mouth drops open as I slap both hands over my mouth as I look back over towards the two men. No wonder that heart felt familiar, even though I didn't know who it belonged to at first. My demon half sensed her through her unbeaten heart before I even knew who that heart belonged to. I lost so many people already. My adopted parents. My real mother. Finn. I will be damn if I let them use her heart in this dark ritual to raise the devil. I'm sorry Joz. I will have to find another way to bring you back.

"What do you mean, you're not going through with the ritual?" Mr. Dubuik asks, puffing out his chest in anger.
"I mean what I said. I'm not marrying your son and I'm not helping you guys raise the devil. So you can just forget it." I snap at him.
"Who said you had a choice?" Mr. Dubuik asks, stepping closer to me, but Vonik steps in between us, stopping him.
I heard the two men growl at each other, and their powers increase around us. I knew there was going to be a fight if I didn't step in and stop them. I'm tired of everything as I used my fire power as I learned to control that first. I brought up my fire power before making a firewall in between them. They both jumped back before looking over at me. I called my fire back by closing my hands into fists and putting my hands down to my sides. I've gotten a lot better at controlling at least the fire, but it still makes me nervous sometimes to use it.
"There will be no fighting, not this time. We are walking away from this." I hissed as I grabbed Vonik's arm to leave, but Mr. Dubuik stops us.
"You two aren't going anywhere." He growls.
It felt like it got even colder and it made me nervous, and then I felt a darker and stronger aura. I recognized it from back when I was in the woods with Hector and Iridiana. I spun around to see Grimshaw standing behind me, and his eyes are pitch black once again. I noticed he looks even paler, with hollow eyes, and he had black veins popping beneath his skin. He looks absolutely horrible. He almost looks dead inside and out, and I almost feel bad for him.
Vonik tackles Grimshaw to the ground, surprising me as I didn't see or heard him move. I let out a gasp as they were fighting on the ground. I heard Grimshaw let out what sounded like an inhuman growl. It sounded something between a cat dying and a whale wailing. It brought goosebumps to my skin, making it prickle from how unnerving it sounded. My stomach drops when I heard Vonik let out a scream, and I didn't think anymore as I instantly waved my hand, throwing Grimshaw back a little. He, of course, barely moved, but it was enough to get him away from Vonik in which I ran up to him, checking the wound that was in his side.
"Are you okay?" I ask worriedly.
"I'll be alright, but you need to stay away from that monster. That kid isn't human anymore." Vonik warns me as he winces from his fresh wound.
"I kind of figured, but is there a way to help him?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows.
"The only thing that could help him now is an exorcist and even that might kill him." Vonik tells me as he looks up at Grimshaw again.
I open my mouth to reply, but then Grimshaw tackles me to the ground. I let out a yelp as I tried to hold him back, but he was so strong. I heard Vonik yelling my name until suddenly Grimshaw went flying aside. I rolled to my side to see that Grimshaw just got thrown out of this place as he went over the trees. I look up to see Vonik standing over me with pitch black eyes as he was huffing in anger. I stood up, which caught his attention, and his eyes went back to their normal amber eyes that move like stardust. I prefer these eyes, such they are prettier than the pitch black ones.
"Are you okay, Lonnie?" Vonik asks with worry.
"I am now. Thank you." I say but became tensed as Mr. Dubuik and Tynan walk towards us.
Mr. Dubuik had a huge smirk on his face, which sent shivers down my spine, but Tynan just had a frown. I then felt the ground shaking and lean to the side to see that the pentagram was lit up, but I'm confused. I thought they needed me to marry Tynan in order to finish the ritual? How is it complete? Vonik stood in front of me again as he glares daggers at them, but I noticed he was still bleeding. It was a blackish color of blood, and it would've grossed me out if it wasn't for the situation that we are both in right now.
The ground soon stopped shaking, but Grimshaw quickly came back as I forgot he could teleport. I watch him as he glared daggers at us, but I noticed he was twitching and looks even worse than when we literally just saw him. It got so cold that it made me nervous that we would not make it out of this alive, and honestly, with the pentagram still light up, I believed it. It almost seemed like one of those western show downs as we all just stared at each other, waiting to see who will attack first. But, I guess Mr. Dubuik is tired of all of this waiting.
I watch him as he tolt his head towards Grimshaw and Tynan, and the next thing I knew, Tynan went straight for Vonik while Grimshaw went straight for me. On instinct, I put my hands up before waving them to the side. Grimshaw slid to the left, but not by much. I so need to practice more if I ever make it out of here. I stood my ground trying to be brave, but in reality, with everything going on, I'm truly terrified. I never asked to be a part of anything. I never thought just being born would turn my life and everyone around me upside down. I lost so many people, and people I cared for or came to care about. I don't want who I was born to be taking over my life anymore. I might not be fully human, but it doesn't mean my personality and heart aren't the same.
I took a deep breath as I tried to fling Grimshaw aside again, but he barley went anywhere again. I clenched and unclenched my fists as I tried to bring forth all of my power and control to the surface so I can actually try to push him back. I threw my hands up to try again, as I thought I had it this time, but nothing happened. My eyes widen in shock and then the next thing I knew I'm tackled to the ground. Grimshaw holding me down in place as he growls at me and I noticed that even his teeth changed to sharp ones, and his breath stank of blood. I scrunch my nose up in disgust as I don't want to die, especially from someone who I thought I could somewhat trust before.
I struggled underneath him before he suddenly let out a loud, painful scream, which made me wince from how loud it was. I look up at him and saw glowing arrow made from light sticking through his head. My mouth drops open as the arrow went right through and his head was smoking and sizzling from the arrow. Then Grimshaw falls to the side before his body just turned into ashes, and the arrow just disappeared as well. I sat up as I stared at Grimshaw's ashes and the school uniform that he's been wearing this whole time. It's the last thing of him. He's gone. Just like that.
I turn towards my other side and saw Hector standing there breathing heavily as he stares at me with worry. I then move my glance over and saw Iridiana, who slowly puts her bow down to her side, before her bow disappears as well. I'm so happy and grateful that they are here, but I am worried they will only be here to die. I turn back towards the pentagram to see it's still glowing, but now the blood is slowly filling the whole pentagram. It should be impossible to fill in the pentagram with human blood they used, but somehow the blood is filling in with no problem. It's just more strange voodoo that I will never understand. But I understand one thing, and that is the devil is on his way, and I'm not sure how we will stop him.