#23 - Out of Time
This is a new thing for me. Four drabbles (two drabbles and two double drabbles) in a series. They all tie together. My motivation is simple: I just watched the movie Constantine and recently reread the Anita Blake book Blue Moon. What happens when Anita meets a foe that cannot be stopped by bullets?
Title: Out of time
Word Count: 600 (two double drabbles, two drabbles)
Characters: Anita, Richard, Jean-Claude and Edward in a cameo appearance.
Challenge: #23 - Time
Note: I am using the events in Blue Moon as the basis for my drabbles. Set after Incubus Dreams.
I
I fell back, gasping, scrambling for my silver cross. My gun was empty, I'd already used my holy water, and I couldn't find a prayer to stop this thing.
Edward was motionless on the floor, bloodied. He was either dead or near to it. He couldn't help me.
I knew the demon was on the other side of the locked door. I could feel it like tar on my skin, only a thin sheet of wood between us.
When Edward and I had gone in, we didn't know there was a demon. We thought it was the usual vampires. But these vampires had a purpose: looking for evil, true evil. They found it.
The vamps were dead, but it was too late. The demon had crossed over from wherever demons come from, and it was hungry.
My cross was gone. I cowered against the window, praying with all my might, but it wasn't enough. "Please, God, please, let the sun rise early, please," I whispered as the closed door between me and this thing splintered from another blow.
But there are some things that even God can't do. The door fell apart, and I screamed.
I was out of time.
II
Jean-Claude and Richard heard Anita's screams down the hall from her hospital room. When they rounded the doorway, glowing crosses held Jean-Claude back.
"What are you doing?" Jean-Claude yelled.
A priest advanced on Jean-Claude, cross in hand, but another by the bed stopped him. "The demon, it's inside her," the priest said. Even held down with leather restraints, Anita fought with demonic strength. "If we can't exorcise it soon, it'll be too late!"
Jean-Claude stumbled. "Stay with her," he told Richard, then backed away.
There was a time he'd have prayed for Anita's soul, but God didn't listen to vampires.
III
Richard sat by the hospital bed, watching Anita sleep. She'd been in a coma since the exorcism, a week ago
He'd spent almost the whole week there, watching her. Waiting. He didn't know how much time she'd need to fight her way back from wherever she'd gone.
"Everyone's okay," Richard whispered. "Nathaniel and I saw the priests yesterday. They say we weren't touched by... it. Jean-Claude and Damian apparently can't be touched."
So the only thing that's wrong is you.
He picked up the book again. He'd been reading to her all morning. "They say Aslan is on the move..."
IV
Sunshine.
The sun shone on the white walls, bouncing off the silver cross hanging in the window.
The sun was shining in the quiet room, where noise was just outside but not in the room, like someone had wrapped it in cotton to keep it, and me, safe, just for now.
I blinked and watched the sunshine. I remembered that it was dark. I'd been scared I'd never see sunshine again.
I heard a breath, close by. A safe sound. I turned my head.
The sun was shining on Richard, his copper hair glowing like a halo. I thought I'd never see him again.
His eyes flickered open and he froze.
"The sun rose," I whispered in a voice harsh from disuse.
"Yeah, it did." Richard slipped out of his chair and knelt by the bed.
I looked back at the window. "Edward?"
"Alive. Fine."
Silence for a long time. "Jean-Claude? Nathaniel?"
"Everyone's fine."
Another silence. "And me?"
Richard picked up my hand as the first tear slid down my cheek. "You are going to be just fine."
Another tear. "I thought it wasn't going to let me go."
Richard kissed my hand. "In the end, it couldn't touch you."
Title: Out of time
Word Count: 600 (two double drabbles, two drabbles)
Characters: Anita, Richard, Jean-Claude and Edward in a cameo appearance.
Challenge: #23 - Time
Note: I am using the events in Blue Moon as the basis for my drabbles. Set after Incubus Dreams.
I
I fell back, gasping, scrambling for my silver cross. My gun was empty, I'd already used my holy water, and I couldn't find a prayer to stop this thing.
Edward was motionless on the floor, bloodied. He was either dead or near to it. He couldn't help me.
I knew the demon was on the other side of the locked door. I could feel it like tar on my skin, only a thin sheet of wood between us.
When Edward and I had gone in, we didn't know there was a demon. We thought it was the usual vampires. But these vampires had a purpose: looking for evil, true evil. They found it.
The vamps were dead, but it was too late. The demon had crossed over from wherever demons come from, and it was hungry.
My cross was gone. I cowered against the window, praying with all my might, but it wasn't enough. "Please, God, please, let the sun rise early, please," I whispered as the closed door between me and this thing splintered from another blow.
But there are some things that even God can't do. The door fell apart, and I screamed.
I was out of time.
II
Jean-Claude and Richard heard Anita's screams down the hall from her hospital room. When they rounded the doorway, glowing crosses held Jean-Claude back.
"What are you doing?" Jean-Claude yelled.
A priest advanced on Jean-Claude, cross in hand, but another by the bed stopped him. "The demon, it's inside her," the priest said. Even held down with leather restraints, Anita fought with demonic strength. "If we can't exorcise it soon, it'll be too late!"
Jean-Claude stumbled. "Stay with her," he told Richard, then backed away.
There was a time he'd have prayed for Anita's soul, but God didn't listen to vampires.
III
Richard sat by the hospital bed, watching Anita sleep. She'd been in a coma since the exorcism, a week ago
He'd spent almost the whole week there, watching her. Waiting. He didn't know how much time she'd need to fight her way back from wherever she'd gone.
"Everyone's okay," Richard whispered. "Nathaniel and I saw the priests yesterday. They say we weren't touched by... it. Jean-Claude and Damian apparently can't be touched."
So the only thing that's wrong is you.
He picked up the book again. He'd been reading to her all morning. "They say Aslan is on the move..."
IV
Sunshine.
The sun shone on the white walls, bouncing off the silver cross hanging in the window.
The sun was shining in the quiet room, where noise was just outside but not in the room, like someone had wrapped it in cotton to keep it, and me, safe, just for now.
I blinked and watched the sunshine. I remembered that it was dark. I'd been scared I'd never see sunshine again.
I heard a breath, close by. A safe sound. I turned my head.
The sun was shining on Richard, his copper hair glowing like a halo. I thought I'd never see him again.
His eyes flickered open and he froze.
"The sun rose," I whispered in a voice harsh from disuse.
"Yeah, it did." Richard slipped out of his chair and knelt by the bed.
I looked back at the window. "Edward?"
"Alive. Fine."
Silence for a long time. "Jean-Claude? Nathaniel?"
"Everyone's fine."
Another silence. "And me?"
Richard picked up my hand as the first tear slid down my cheek. "You are going to be just fine."
Another tear. "I thought it wasn't going to let me go."
Richard kissed my hand. "In the end, it couldn't touch you."