Borrowed Time

August 20, 2020 - Evergreen, Washington

It took most of the night but we finally found Cece's address. Her parents must have moved after she graduated.

The five of us crowd around the entrance as Janice knocks feverishly on the front door.

The door creaks open, with the chain still on the door.

"We're not interested," an older female voice states.

"Uh-" Janice stammers. "We're here to see Cecillia. We went to High School with her. Is she here?"

The door closes briefly and we can hear the chain rattle.

A woman with long black and grey hair stands in the door frame.

"Cecillia is in her room." The woman ushers us inside. God, this house reeks of cats and cigarettes. "Upstairs."

The five of us scurry up the stairs. We stop at a black door. This must be it.

"Do we knock?" I ask nervously.

"Fuck that, we don't have time." Nico bursts through the door. Cece doesn't flinch or jump as we stumble inside. Holy crap. Our jaws drop as we examine Cece's face. She looks like she's in her early 40's. What the fuck happened?

"Cece?" Janice takes a step forward to the bed where Cece is sitting cross-legged with a notebook in her hands.

Cece peers up from her book and a sinister smile clips the corners of her mouth. "I've been expecting you."

Trey rushes forward. "Expecting us? Why?"

Cece scans our faces, and then her gaze drops to Nico's palm. "Uh oh, something went wrong."

Gabby lurches towards Cece, but Janice and I manage to grab her arms. "Let me go!" Gabby screeches. "This bitch did this on purpose!"

Janice and I tell Gabby to shut up. "Cece, where's the book? What do you know?" Janice kneels by the bed. "Help us. We don't know what's happening."

Cece lets out a maniacal laugh. "This is what's going to happen." She motions to her face, and then points to her bookshelf. "Book's over there if you want it."

Janice rushes over to the case and pulls out the all too familiar leather book, and flips to the middle.

Trey scowls as he looks at Cece. "Why do you look like that?"

"Dangerous games often result in dangerous prizes." Cece narrows her eyes. "But I'm assuming you already knew that."

Janice joins us with a blank look in her eyes. "I don't understand. We did everything right. Everything." She holds up the book.

"Read it to us," Trey demands.

"Fine." Janice opens the book. "You need to draw a pentagram on the ground, and have a fire in the center."

Gabby nods. "Ok, we did that."

"You need a person on each point."

"There were five of us, yes," Nico confirms.

"You need to use the same knife to cut the palm of each participant, and they need to squeeze their blood into the fire while reciting the incantation," Janice exhales in frustration. "Fuck! We did all of this!"

Cece chuckles and we all dart our eyes towards her. "What kind of blood did you need?" she asks knowingly. Fuck.

Janice traces her finger along the page. "sanguinis pura," she mutters. "Pure blood."

My heart accelerates and the color drains from my face. "Uh-" I swallow. "What does pure blood mean?"

Cece glares at me and her lip twitches in amusement. "It means, untainted. Unfiltered."