The world outside of that vacuum continued without feeling a ripple. That had been how they operated for centuries now. Raveena knew they were ancient, their creation though; remained a mystery. Her first encounter had been nearly a decade ago. Time had no bearing on their physical appearance. There was no real telling of their age.
While the human race began to move toward war, the pack continued unfazed. Though with husbands away, re-supply was far less complex. War came and went. The Witch remained in the nothing. There was a steady supply of bodies. Taking a few for her agreement with the Medial would matter none. The advent of technology, the influence of the false God’s people, and demonic manipulation lead slowly towards man’s degradation. Raveena remained, wanting to interfere but knowing it was too great a risk.
The nineties brought some entertainment at their expense. A new system had been established by the mortals that used DNA in investigations. Although none of the DNA would match to anything in the database, it would give cause for further investigation. Perhaps a chance of them being discovered. With this, there was another advent for reporting missing persons. Though it would not stop them, it meant they had to watch how often they hunted the same territory.
The Witch watched, slowly frustration and then anger passed among them. Then something strange began to happen. A sort of convulsion started in her upper chest and then a sound came out of her mouth. A laugh, she was laughing. Something she hadn’t done in a long time. It wasn’t a win per say but anything that put a damper on their plans was amusing to her.
Raveena cackled when they invented the smartphone. There was no snatching women from their homes or eradicating whole towns. It could be photographed and shared easily with the outside world. This was her chance to leave the Medial and return to a type of normal. Though the mortal world was not her own, anything else, aside from Demornacte was better than Medial. The Terra realm was freedom at least.
With that in mind, Raveena began to make a plan for her escape. The runes could come down, the portals collapsed, and her power reclaimed. Over a century of scars and deformities spread across her body, a necessary sacrifice. By reclaiming her power, she could finally fix her appearance.
She had even hacked her hair with a dull blade. It lay in uneven patches beneath her hood. With a deep sigh, she raised her hands and the void reverberated. It wavered as if disturbed water. From the palms of her hands, a black cyclone began to form, rotating slowly at first. Then her eyes shot open, now voids of black energy, spreading in small veins from her sockets.
A low hum could be heard as the Medial protested the ritual. Raveena had to be quick when she finished for the void would let her fall into its nothing.
“Reditus et expeller,” She commanded.
The black vortex in her hand pulled all the runes and portals in one swoop. Raveena already knew where she was headed when she left the Medial; Los Angeles. It was a populated city where being invisible on the sidewalk would be impossible. Then, as if an old television shutting off, her form blinked from the void.
In this shape, blending in with the mortal crowd could be problematic. Raveena ducked in a back alley feeling her power setting into place. She cupped her hands as if catching water and passed them down over her crown, parting them as she reached her torso. Her once hacked crimson hair now cascaded down to her shoulders. The scars on her ivory skin faded as white energy poured down her body, renewing digits and missing flesh. Before reforming her clothing into a black and red, mid-thigh corset dress with low-sole combat boots. Just enough to get attention, should she need it.
That display of power would have alerted them to her presence in the world. So, she quickly moved onto the sidewalk, where hundreds of humans were moving about.
In the distance, she saw him, humans moving around him as if he wasn’t really in Los Angeles. All these years he had remained unchanged. His hands lay across the top of a black cane, the head of it a steel image of his true face. She was unsurprised by his vanity and his costume. Only a demon could wear leather and a black suit jacket in ninety-degree heat.
His black locks slick back, blue eyes piercing, the myriad of tattoos visible on his hands, unfaded’ accented by the multitude of rings on his fingers. He blinked and for a moment the true color of his eyes became visible, oily black. Eyes she was all too familiar with, them, and other things Asmodeus saved only for her.
Asmodeus had no quarrel with her seeing him in all his glory. He loved to abuse her in that form. Her suffering was the only thing that gave him any pleasure. From what she had seen, that was a fact among human men. The pain, and agony of women were what they enjoyed most.
“Hello, child.” He whispered in a voice only she could hear.
“Demon, do not dare speak to me!” She warned, her right hand at her left hip, fingers curling into a claw as red lightning danced between her fingers.
“I wouldn’t do that.” He growled.
“I am no child, not anymore. I will die before you touch me again.” She replied.
“Oh, I know. Though how you hid from me all these years still remains a mystery. I’ll figure it out soon enough. And you, oh the boys and I have plans for you, don’t you worry. There is however, one matter we need to discuss now. Why did you kill our child Raveena? Now that, well it broke my heart even more than you rejecting my love.” He said, with a wide demonic-toothed smirk, taunting her.
Raveena felt bile rise in her throat at the thought of him loving her, or even coming physically close to her.
“Love? Don’t use words you don’t understand demon. Spare me the bullshit lies you whisper to these humans. What you did to me, a teenage girl! That was not love. That bastard in my belly deserved to die. I would do it again!” Anger dripped from her words
There was a glimmer in his eyes, and his smirk widened.
“Lies. You were a woman by all accounts. In fact, your mother should have had you married before I arrived. But now, you’re mine forever Reevena, no other man will touch a demon whore.” He said, knowing he was making her mad.
There they stood on the hot concrete in a heated exchange of words, spoken only between their minds. Reevena felt a scream growing in her chest. He would pay for everything, but not today. She knew Asmodeus wouldn’t kill her over the child but her insubordinate behavior. Escaping him and hiding. It made him look weak to them. Even at this distance, she could feel the fury seething off of him. It dulled the suffocating heat blazing off the surface of the Earth. She felt the air vibrating around them and she knew his energy was shifting. Was he seriously thinking about trying to take her back now? No way in hell would she allow that to happen.
“Vultus.” She whispered.
The crowd around them all stopped and everyone turned to look at them. It was a targeting spell, whatever she looked at, regardless of glamour, became the target.
“What’s wrong with his eyes?” Someone said.
“Do you see this guy?” Another asked.
Hundreds of phones came out and started to film him.
“This isn’t over witch,” He warned.
Then his image wavered out in a spiral of black smoke. Attention was the last thing he wanted. Raveena sighed, unclamping her hand and the energy faded. At least her plan for freedom was working so far. Now, onto the next phase.
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