Chapter 18: Danger

"So you left her here?" I asked. Angie was sitting next to the dining table, having snacks with my mother. It was quite a sight--the relative of my murder victim eating casually with the woman that raised me. When we stepped into the living room, Angie flashed Hollie a toothless grin and excitedly ran up to her.

Hollie bent down and squeezed Angie's cheeks. "How was your day?"

Angie scrunched up her nose, and then giggled when my friend released her chubby flesh. "Mrs. Gressner took me to watch a movie, we just got back."

Hollie beamed at her. "Did you enjoy the movie?"

"Yeps! It was about a superhero dog. It beat up all the bad guys." The girl pushed herself from Hollie's arms and pretended to punch the villains. It looked like she was trying to swat imaginary flies with her fists. I tried to stifle a laugh. Hollie had managed her very well. It eased my worries a lot.

The ancient demon ruffled Angie's hair and chuckled. "Seems like you had a lot of fun."

The little girl slackened her posture and pouted. "I wished you were there with us though."

"I'm sorry." Hollie heaved the girl up into her arms and carried her. Angie was probably felt as light as a feather, considering that Hollie had super strength and all. "I'll watch another movie with you this weekend how about that?"

Angie nodded her head vigorously. "Yes!"

I was simply a bystander watching the both of them. Hollie had done such a great job cheering Angie up. Nobody would have guessed that Angie had just lost her father. She was a bundle of joy. One look at the both of them and anybody would have thought that they were sisters. I resented myself for not being the one to be there for Angie, but I never could have done better than Hollie.

I glanced at my mother. She looked normal. No signs of insanity yet. What had Hollie compelled her to do?

"Who is she?" Angie asked, eyeing me warily across Hollie's shoulder. The girl had finally noticed my presence. She sounded very hostile. Her personality underwent a complete change.

Hollie patted her head. "She's Evelyn, you've met her before right?"

"I'm called Jane around here," I corrected her. It was too confusing to be called two different names all the time. I didn't know why Adan and Hollie couldn't just accept that I wanted to be called 'Jane'. Perhaps my biological father called me by 'Evelyn' too much.

The little girl gasped. Her face paled as she stared at me with a horrified expression. "Evelyn?" She looked away. "H-h-hello," she whimpered, and tightened her hold on Hollie. My heart sank. Angie was terrified. I wondered if it was because she knew what I truly was, but I dismissed the thought at once. There was no way that she could possibly find out without suspecting Hollie as well.

The room fell silent. I shifted the my weight from one foot to another and pressed my clammy hands together. It was awkward. "So... umm.." I said, trying to remove the tension in the air. "Where are you guys staying tonight? If you want I can ask my mom if you can stay here."

Hollie laughed. "Oh that won't be necessary, she's already allowed us to." That was odd. My mother was nice but she didn't warm up to complete strangers that easily. She might have been a ditz but she wasn't that stupid.

I shot her a questioning look. "You asked?" Come to think of it, Angie and Hollie were already welcomed into my house. I never remembered telling my mother that they were my friends. And she never let anybody that claimed to be my friend into the house without confirming it with me first. Not that it happened before. In fact, it was more likely to raise suspicion than anything else--my mother never believed me to have any friends.

Hollie scratched her chin with her forefinger. "I think you know what I did." She winked at me and smiled. I paused and thought about what she meant. Then, it dawned on me. The demon had compelled my mother to let them stay.

"You can't just do that!" I shouted, slightly maddened. Angie shut her eyes and pressed herself closer to Hollie. I pursed my lips. "You didn't have to do that." I lowered my voice, not wanting to scare Angie again. "I could have just asked her."

The demon shrugged it off. "It's more convenient that way. Besides, I needed some place to put Angie for the day. You weren't here when I arrived this morning." I must have already left for school. Judging by the time she arrived to class, Hollie had just narrowly missed me.

I crossed my arms and gave Hollie a stern look. "You can't just do mind tricks on people."

"It's easier that way."

"You didn't have to do it to my mom."

"Shush, it's fine," she said, waving off my argument. "It not harmful. Just a bit of memory loss that's all." Was this going to raise my mother's chances of dementia? I drew a deep breath and pinched my nose. This was adding to my pile of worries. Hollie moved toward the stairs. "She's less likely to ask questions this way. We can stay as long as we want."

"Whatever you say," I grumbled, too tired to argue. "Just don't do it again."

"I can't promise that."

"Hollie!"

She puffed up her cheeks, and then let out a deep breath. "Fine. I'll try my best not to."

"Try?" I asked, raising a brow.

She shrugged with one shoulder. "Sometimes necessity calls for such things."

And many people tended to overestimate things as necessities. I gave up. Trying to convince a thousand year old demon to stop using her powers was like trying to stop a smoker from smoking.

I followed her up to my room. I supposed that she was bunking in with me during her time here. We didn't have any spare rooms. My bed was rather small, it could only fit two adults at most. And even then, they'd have to sleep very uncomfortably. Hollie and Angie could share my bed, and I'd use the mattress that was stored in the dusty garage. It probably had spider webs in it by now. Some cleaning would fix it up real quick.

Why couldn't she just hijack somebody else's house instead?

I was ashamed to show them the chaos that my room was in. My junk strewn all over the place. The surface of my table was barely visible--piles of trinkets and paper covered it. Hollie surveyed my living space. She didn't show any signs of disapproval, which consoled me slightly.

A crumpled dress splayed right across the door, blocking our way. I kicked it aside. "Welcome." I faked an uneasy laugh. "Sorry for the mess."

Hollie placed Angie down. "I've seen worse," she said jokingly.

"Are we staying here?" Angie asked Hollie meekly. Disgust was apparent on her face. I cringed. Hollie should've warned me about their arrival. Then I'd be able to clear up my room and save myself the embarrassment.

I couldn't stand the mental torture anymore. "Why don't you go help my mom with dinner? I need to pack." I needed to get them out of here so that they'd stop witnessing this horrendous display of uncleanliness.

"Sure," Hollie said. She smiled at me. She probably sensed my worry. "Let's go, Angie." The little girl placed her hand into Hollie's and together they strode off. The door closed behind me and I faced my worse nightmare.

I had to battle the garbage.

My closet was almost half empty, since the rest of my clothes were on the floor. Some of them were there since two months ago. The paper that were on my table haven't been cleared since last year, and my trashcan hadn't been cleared since who knows when. Tissue paper and snack wrappers flooded from it, spilling over from its sides. How in the world did I allow my room to get to this state?

I stood there and assessed the situation. Thoughts of procrastination surfaced, but with guests staying over, procrastination wasn't a feasible option. I thought about starting with the simpler things first--dump the contents of the trashcan and pick up the clothes to throw them into the laundry bin (I was probably going to have to make two trips for that). The hard part was organizing my desk. And cleaning the underside of my bed. Oh no. God knows what was in there. I shuddered.

I groaned and went downstairs to pick up my supplies: ten trash bags and a ton of detergent. Plus gloves. I definitely needed gloves to clear what was below my bed.

I sighed. Time to pull up my socks--all the way up to my waist--and face the dirty music.  

- - -  

Tonight, I was going to sleep in a five-star hotel room. My room was sparkling. It was like the god of neatness came over and swept the place with his magic.

Surprisingly, I had a talent for tidying up places.

I should've gotten a nobel prize considering the trauma I had gone through. I found mould-covered something beneath my bed. I couldn't make out what it was. As if that wasn't enough, a cockroach the size of my thumb crawled out from under there. I whacked the pest with great enthusiasm, releasing my pent up frustration. The floor was scarred with a small crack in the process--I had forgotten my own strength. It looked hideous, and thus I moved the bean bag over to cover it.

I let loose the hair that I pinned up previously. Cleaning the room had taken me three whole hours. It was six and the sun had already set. I imagined my back aching. It would've been aching if I were still human. Even though my back was perfectly fine, my mind was still mentally tired, unstable even. Thank heavens I was done. It felt like I was running a marathon.

The smell of dinner wafted from the kitchen. It was almost done.

"Jane dear! Dinner is ready!" my mom called from the kitchen. My stomach growled. I was starving, although not for the dinner that they prepared. I needed blood.

I licked my lips. My appetite was thoroughly whetted just with the thought of it. I wondered if Hollie knew where to get blood. I definitely wasn't keen on going hunting, since it was something I never tried before, and I preferred to keep it that way.

"Okay!" I called back. Where was I supposed to get blood?

I took one long look at my work of perfection before spinning myself around to exit the room. I would make a pretty good housewife. Look at my work of art! Magnifique. Although it would be a million years later before I chose to be a housewife. I was a strong, independent and responsible twentieth century female teenager. At least, that was what I liked to think.

I placed my hand on my door knob and twisted it.

"Yessss," a voice hissed behind me. I stilled.

It sounded demonic and coarse, as if the speaker had a very bad sore throat and was trying to speak like a creepo at the same time. I spun my head around.

It wasn't human. "Weee havee founndd shheee," the thing said. A glob of black liquid swayed before me. It lacked any form whatsoever, yet those words were said by it. "Coommee with ussss." The only things it had with a hint of human--though barely--were its eyes. Red, beady, glowing eyes. 

"Coommee with ussss," it hissed again. Fear crept into my guts. The slush monster continued to move back and forth, like it was a drunk blob of black, if that was even possible.

Was this what Adan meant by danger?

"Massstterr waantssss to ssseee you."

I glanced at the floor. Mr. Slush was leaving a bunch of slimy black goo wherever it touched. The audacity! I had just cleaned my room and made it spick and span. This was supposed to be my five-star hotel luxury room tonight, even if it'd most probably get messed up again tomorrow.

The ooze inched closer like an unstable wave, leaving a trail behind it. Frustration flew into my arms. Now I had to clean my room again. Preposterous.

I assumed that it wouldn't be able to move faster than a snail. I was wrong. "COME!" The ooze shouted. The fact that it could speak still didn't click with my brain. It threw itself across the room, splattering grime across my once-clean pristine white walls. The monster opened its previously non-existent mouth, releasing a foul stench that made it hard to breathe.

I really didn't want to have black stuff all over me.

I shut my eyes and tightened my jaw tight, unsuccessfully trying to ready myself for the impending messy and slimy doom.

A large groan sounded. "Lisssteeennn," the thing said.

My eyes opened slowly. I glanced down. My feet were no longer standing on my unmarred wooden floor. Black sticky goo stained my shoes. I had moved to the other side of the room. How? No idea.

I looked behind me and saw the ooze. It was no longer 'standing' tall and 5 feet tall, but splattered across my floor, like a weak mess that desperately needed to be mopped up. "Massterr wantssss youu!"

It sprung up and towered to the ceiling, sticking black matter on it as it went. The ceiling! How the hell was I supposed to clean that up later? My room was now just a gooey mess. There went all my hard work. I let out an internal scream of frustration.

"That's as far you go you little shit," I said through gritted teeth. I wouldn't be surprised if I were admitted into the hospital the next day for popped veins.

It roared, or screeched, and moved itself towards me again.

Fire. I needed it really badly right now, and yet nothing was happening, not even a slight tinge of the burning sensation that normally crept up to my hand. "Comeeoncomeeonn..." The thing was disgusting--it had to be burned. I tried snapping my fingers together. Not even a spark. "Damn it!"

"Comeeee!" the thing's voice raised around the room like an ear-piercing crescendo. It leapt towards me.  

Shit. My eyes widened and my jaw quivered--I was more than afraid of being covered with that black slime.

"No." I heard my own voice become subconsciously released from my lips. It was no more than a whisper, though it remained definite and strong. "Stop destroying my room." And in that instant, I felt the hot sensation rush into my fingers. I released as fast as I could, and a large burst of flame pumped from my fists, onto the floor, lighting up the black substance that sprayed over the ground.

Apparently, black slimes were highly inflammable. The fire spread itself like it was fueled by kerosene, rushing across the floor and heating up the whole room.

The monster screamed in agony; its screams were still too high-pitched but at least they reassured me that it was dying and wouldn't annoy me in the future. "Nooooo! Youuu wwilll be ssoorryy!" He let out that atypical sentence that villains never failed to utter during their last breath.

I rolled my eyes. "Just go to hell."

I strutted to my bed with a triumphant ego and plonked myself onto the bed. I walked across the orange-yellow flames with ease. They belonged to me, hence they couldn't harm me. The monster's screeching died down into soft, helpless whimpers. Finally, some peace.

Everything was over now--or so I thought.

When I opened my eyes I realized that the flames were still burning; I didn't notice them at first because I couldn't feel their heat. They were starting to light up my bed and I was beginning to hear it creak and subside.

The whole house was about to be burned down.

Bloody hell. What else was there for me to do but panic? "Hollie!"

A.N. : Super late update, I know. Please spare me! I'm actually in the midst of exams now and the exams here last for 1 whole month so I don't really have the time.