Black and Blue

23 - Messages

I kept hesitating to activate the device Nyx had brought me. Something felt so ominous, so unnerving about the way it sat in my hand that my thumb would continually hover over the button before shying away again. Jack sighed from my desk; he was sitting by the computer, a new email window open, waiting for my "go" to start writing to Morgan. I'd told him we could start as soon as I heard the message—he still didn't know Nyx had been the deliverer, and I intended for him to never find out. The idea of her being alone with me in the human world, and in my own house to boot, would have angered and worried him to no end.

"You know," he said after my fifth attempt to get over myself and open the damn thing, "you're going to have to hear it eventually."

"Yeah. I-I just—what if it's them? What if it's some sort of curse, and when I open it something tries to attack me—"

"Then we'll fight it off."

He said it so plainly, and without the slightest bit of bias in his voice that I was almost inclined to believe him. After all, I'd performed the shield spell with my eyes closed and was able to drive the demons off with a few empty threats.

But that was different.

"Okay," I said, heaving a sigh and giving the main button one jab with my thumb before holding it away from my face. For a moment, there was only silence. Then...

"Hey, handcuff-girl."

I was met with the jovial and unbearably smug voice of Vickson, clear as day and right next to my ear. Surprisingly, I didn't flinch; I was overcome with anger far before my other primal instincts could kick in.

"Heard what happened to you through the grapevine...so sorry for your loss," they said, clearly not meaning a word of that. "Upper management's been awful quiet lately. I can't help but feel like maybe they're planning out another little message for you in case you decide to come back. I mean...come on, human, you didn't think we actually wanted you here, did you?"

They broke out into quiet laughter and sighed.

"Hold on, is Jack there with you? You know what, I'll just pretend he is. Hi, Jack-a-boo! Oh, Christ on a cracker, how we've missed you down here. Boss is getting worried, you know. Thinks you're falling into a pit. Don't you fret now, darling, don't you fret. I know better than that. I'd say you're more of the sinking type.

"If I had to guess...that healer girl, Smith, gave this to you, didn't she? So obedient. Wouldn't know right from wrong if you held 'em in front of her face. At least, if you mentioned her sister in there somewhere. Ha ha ha!"

Jack seemed to hold back a snicker at that part, despite everything that had been thrown at the two of us before. I tried not to let it annoy me. Vickson's voice was now all that rang in my ears, one scathing remark or petty insult after the other. They never run out of those, do they?!

"Ahh...anyway! Get better soon, Sawyer, dear. Or...well, I guess it'd also be a plus if you died. Just don't stay in that middle area too long. You've seen what happens there well enough yourself.

"Toodles!"

The receiver (or whatever kind of demonic entity was playing this message) nearly broke in my hand as a loud hiss echoed throughout the room. I guessed that Vickson had pulled some horrifying, grotesque face at the end as a final attempt at intimidation. Whether they'd forgotten I couldn't see this or simply wanted my imagination to fill in the blanks was beyond me. I narrowed my eyes and started fiddling with the other various knobs on this remote-thing.

"Well, fuck you, too," I said under my breath.

"Asshat," Jack muttered at almost the exact same time. He sighed, and a squeaking sound told me he was leaning back in my desk chair. "Try not to take it personally, Sawyer, they just hate—"