The Other Side: The Awakening.

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Ritual (Finale)

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

She was at a party. Was she drunk? She couldn't move. The only thing she could hear was Its ragged breaths. 

Suzanne vaguely remembered talking to Caleb. 

This was that party, she thought to herself. The night I first met Caleb.

There was a sharp pain between her thighs. That caused her eyes to flutter open. He was on top of her. Luke. 

Caleb's brother. She had woken up the next morning in Luke's bed.

This already happened before, Suzanne thought to herself. This was what I couldn't remember.

Luke kept pushing himself inside her. More pain vibrated through her body. Suzanne suddenly found herself looking into his eyes. They were blood red. 

***

Suzanne gasped as she woke up from her vivid dream. But only to find herself in another nightmare. Only this wasn't a dream.

She was lying in the middle of a star-shaped pentagram. She was having a terrible headache and her face felt wet, like something was running down her cheeks. Droplets of blood splattered onto her white dress. 

Standing just outside the pentagram was Kathrine. But it wasn't actually Kathrine, of course. The moment Suzanne looked at her she could tell that Kat was possessed. The face she was staring into was hard and cold. 

Behind her stood Luke. His soft, brown hair was resting on his forehead. His perfect jawline was curved up in a smirk. 

'It was you all along,' Suzanne whispered. 

Luke laughed. 'Of course. I was the one who read the book to let my Master out. Armani couldn't even hear me break into her house.' 

'Master?'

Luke nodded. 'I've been worshiping it since I was thirteen. It whispered such nice things to me. Because Grandma killed her firstborn, It came after me. But since I wasn't the seed, It couldn't make me the Child of Darkness.' 

'You raped me!' Suzanne screamed. 

'More than once,' Luke grinned. 'Every time you had a nightmare, I was screwing you in reality. It's part of The Ritual, you know. Every fortnight for a month.'

'You bastard!' Suzanne screamed, tears running down her face, mixing with the blood from the long gash on her forehead. 

Luke looked at his watch.

'And now, tonight's the last. It's almost midnight, Master will take control of me and make a new Child of Darkness.'

Kathrine smiled and wrapped her hand around Luke's hand. He groaned in pain and pleasure as the Demon left Kat's body and entered his. Luke's eyes slowly dissolved and became blood red. 

He smiled and started walking towards Suzanne.

***

'You have to break the barrier that's holding you back.'

'I don't understand!' Kat said.

'Look, Kat. You're still alive,' Caleb explained. 'The only reason you're here is because the Demon has entered your body and now occupies the space where your soul should be. Tonight, in order to complete the Ritual, the Demon will have to leave your body in order to impregnate Suzanne.' 

'Well, how do I break the barrier? I have to somehow make it back into the real world and re-enter my body before it's too late.' 

'You need to regain your humanity. This place traps you. It only makes you feel pain and sadness,' Caleb explained. 'I want you to try to picture your happiest memory.'