Dangerous Illusions

Chapter 13

Leila’s POV

I looked at Bethany and said,” I don’t think that I can be of any help here, Bethany. You need to deal with this yourself.”

“What do you mean?” shrieked Bethany as the clawing on the door got even louder.

“Look am telling you the truth and honestly. I know that you will think that I am trying to save my life and not help you out but that is not true. This demon wants to take you back to hell and that is the reason everyone you love deeply has been obliterated.”

“You don’t make any sense. Why will a demon want me? I have not done anything wrong at all…” said Bethany and I knew that she knew absolutely nothing of what had happened in her past life. How could she? And why would she? She was not cursed like I was…but once a deal made with a demon was for an eternity. Nothing at all could break it under any circumstances.

I did not know how I was supposed to explain this to her because she was not going to believe me and this was not a battle I could take on under circumstances. This was solely out of my league.

“Bethany there are some things and forces which are completely out of human control and it is better to go along with it. This is not something that you can understand or even fathom with your current medical knowledge because this entails something done by your father in your past life. He had made a deal with the demon and then he had left you there at the mercy of them. You were still a healer, but the deal was broken. You were killed and so this time the demon has come to take you back to hell where you belong,” I said and Bethany slapped both her hands on her mouth.

“No…that cannot be possible….” She whispered and muttered to herself and I could not react.

“If running would help then I would have asked you to run but most of the times we need to deal with what is going on and happening with us. And I cannot find any other way that I can help you out with this,” I said.

“But that is a demon….A FREEAAAKING DEMON WHO IS WEARING THE SKIN OF MY DEAD BOYFRIEND….THIS IS BEYOND ANY NIGHTMARE THAT I CAN EVEN IMAGINE FOR MYSELF…” screamed Bethany as she pulled on her hair with both her hands and I could not understand what I was supposed to say to her.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and said,” Face the demon.”

Then what I did it was an impulsive decision for me because I would not have done it even if I had been given a million bucks. I rushed forward and opened the door and moved away from the door. The demon was still outside the door and then I recalled that it could not enter because of the salt and the holy water. And I swiped some amount of salt away from the door and the demon snarled its way inside.

Bethany screamed her throat out as she saw what I had done but I knew that this was the only way to deal with it.

The demon did not make any noise as the skin slowly shed and Bethany was walking back. I was sacred to even say a word so that the demon’s attention would turn from her towards me and if that happened then I was a gone girl. But I would not move from here. I had said that I was going to help her and I was going to stand with her until everything was done. Bethany was looking at the demon whose grotesque vision was something she could not tear her eyes away from.

“Leila….you can take away anything from me but please save me,” she whispered and I said,” Talk to it.”

She looked at me for a second before the demon turned and whirled around and opened the mouth of the meat suit that it was wearing and the stench that was coming at me made me gag.

“Bethany, you need to call the demon off,” I said but before she could hear me she hit the demon on its head with the candlestand that she had found near her on the mantelpiece. That made no difference to the demon which was still coming at full speed in my direction. And the only person to whom the demon was going to listen did not even bother to hear what I was trying to say.

Before the demon could reach me, I bent down and scooped a handful of salt and then started chanting a protection spell. Nothing from the new rituals!!! This was old Latin which had been created by my ancestors for proper demons from hell and right now I knew that this was the last resort that was left. But before I would need to recite it completely Bethany brought a bucket full of the holy water that I had made in the bath and dunked it on the demon.

And the sizzling and burning of flesh and the groans and screams of the demon was more than enough to let me and Bethany run out of the house as soon as possible. Before the demon could recover from that assault we were already out of there.

Standing in the open air I thought that maybe now we were safe but I would soon be told that I was completely mistaken.

As soon as we were out Bethany started screaming on the top of her voice and before I could turn back towards her to help she was gone. Her screams faded into nothing and I was left standing there helpless with no clue how was I supposed to get her back.

“You are not getting her back, little one,” said a gravelly voice from my back as the stench of sulphur filled the air.

I shivered at the voice as the warm air engulfed me and I was most definitely scared. This was the same voice which caused me to not sleep at nights and stay wary during the day. This was the same demon which had repeatedly taken me and assaulted me without even giving me a chance to protect myself.

“Get the f**k out of my head!!” I gritted my teeth and shivered as I wrapped my arms around myself.

“But I am not in your head little one…I am always beside you…there are battles that you win and those that you lose…your powers are growing every day and it is my job to keep you safe….it is not yet time to come out in the darkness,” he said as soon as the sentence finished the warmth around me was gone.

I found that my phone was in my pocket and my purse was in the pocket of my jeans. That would only mean that if I was out of here now then no one would be ever come to find me in connection to Bethany. And if they could not connect me then I was exonerated from all blame. That means that I was scot free to grow.

I walked a mile from the place and then booked a cab and then went back to my place but the door to my apartment was already unlocked and immediately I held up my phone as a weapon since I had nothing else.

“Come on Mija, you know that the wits are not the only thing that I had taught you when you were little. You could have atleast put a basic protection spell on your own home,” said my Grandma.

“This area…have you seen it? With working even three jobs I cannot think about moving to a better place….than this dump that I have been living in,” I said as I entered my home. And then I said,” To what pleasure do I owe you this visit Grams?”

“Baby girl, you know I have been watching you since the day you entered this world full crying and so the owls and the eagles soared in the night sky and we all knew that this wee little one was going t be something big in this world…I have come to tell you that the time of reckoning has finally arrived…” said Grams as she smiled at me.

I had heard this story before so it did not faze me as much but I could not understand what she was meaning by reckoning. And neither was I in the mood.

“Grams, I just saw a girl being taken away by a demon and I was standing helpless with nothing on my side. I did not even get the chance to protect her,” I said as I flopped down on my unmade bed.

“Some battles you win, some battles you lose, mija…there is nothing new to it. We have taught you that long back…but I understand that failure in times like this can sting and hurt. But you gotta suck it up and get ready for your next battle,” said Grams as she sat in the chair before me.

“I don’t know if I am cut out for this Grams. This has been taking a toll on me since the day I got my periods and now it is like happens every single week….I don’t know how long I can endure this,” I said as she sighed and held my hand.

“You have to sweetie. For the sake of the world,” she said and everything went black.