Eli tilted his head back the moment he realized what Julia was doing. The pencil scraped across his face, stabbing him in the side of the nose. He grabbed onto Julia’s wrist and ripped the IV drip from her hand, forcing her to let go of his jacket. His mouth opened to ask her what she was doing, but Julia had already shoved herself upright in an effort to pounce on him, stumbling over the bed railing as she did so.

She hit the floor, hard, and gasped for breath. It felt like every inch of her was bruised, and even several days of recovering didn’t make her feel better. Ripping the rest of the cords off of her, she stumbled to a stand as the machines she had been hooked up to began to go crazy with noise.

“Stop it!” Eli sidestepped Julia as she swiped at him. It was easy for him to dodge an injured girl.

“Shut up! I’m going to kill you!”

Julia charged at him with his shoulder and succeeded in knocking him into a wall. A low grunt escaped Eli, and he shoved him off of her. When she attempted to claw at his face, he kicked her in the stomach, using the wall to brace himself as he shoved her back. As Julia was knocked to the ground again, she let out a spree of curse words.

“Let her go, Kara!” Eli reached over and grabbed a chair, holding it defensively between himself and Julia.

Julia remained on the floor. She needed a moment to gather her strength before attempting to stand again. “... What?”

“I know you’re angry that you didn’t get what you want, but you can’t start hurting people!”

The door to the room began to shake. Next came pounding as the nurses tried to get in. Both of them glanced over to see that black ash was swirly about the handle, keeping it shut. Was Trill watching them? Julia gritted her teeth with rage. The bastard was treating them like toys.

“You’re the one that hurt me! And Mackenzie, and Mio, and who knows how many other people! You’re the psychopath th-that needs to be stopped.” Julia rubbed her eyes with her forearm. Tears were already falling freely from them. “I… I want my sister back, a-and Mackenzie… But… What did you do to me?! What did you do this?!”

Eli set the chair down on the floor. He still hid behind it, but now he was unsure of what they were doing here. “... Julia?” He blinked a few times as he tried to piece together what was happening. “Did you already do the rit-”

The shadow below Julia expanded. It turned soft, like sand, right before it whipped up around her and swallowed her whole. Suddenly she was falling, and she landed hard on a cement floor. She let out a pained whine as she sat up and looked down at herself. Everything was wet.

She was in a warehouse, and the boarded-up windows only allowed for minimal light to come through. The wetness was dripping from above, and when she looked up, she could see human limbs and entrails hanging from fishing line tied to the roof supports.

Julia did the only rational thing that came to mind, and let out a long, high-pitched scream.

“Shh,” retorted Trill. He held a digit up to his mouth.

His warning would come too late. Fishing line shot up from the ground and tied up Julia. She let out another scream as she was dragged up into the air. The lines were cutting into her skin, and it was agony to move or even breathe.

“Who the fuck is this and why the fuck are they in a hospital gown?”

It was a man wearing an animal mask like Trill’s. This one was of a bird of some sort. One of the smaller ones, like a finch or a chickadee, but Julia didn’t know which. His mask was different from the demon’s. While Trill’s almost seemed alive, his didn’t appear nearly as real.

“A client,” replied Trill. “I multiple cases at once, and she was in need of an emergency extraction.” The man flexed his hand as he debated what to do with Julia. “... Put her down.”

Julia fell with another thud to the ground and Trill walked up to her. He sliced open his wrist and held it forward for her to drink. Though she should have hesitated, Julia was suddenly overtaken with hunger as she stared at the ash dripping from his veins. She crawled forward and began to drink, much to the disgust of the birdman.

“... That’s fucked up.”

“This one is a special case,” replied Trill as he patted Julia’s head.

Blood began to leak out of Julia’s skin and form little tendrils. They tore off the hospital gown and wove about her body until she was wearing a red t-shirt and jeans. The fabric looked normal unless looked closely, then it looked like the individual threads were pulsing.

Unamused, the man looked around. “Are we done here?”

“Yes, this will be the last time we meet,” replied Trill. “Best of luck in your endeavors.”

Both he and Julia were swallowed up by ash again. When the swirl of dust vanished, the two of them were in an expensive looking hotel suite. Trill walked over to the mini-fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. This was held out for Julia, and she gratefully began to chug it down in order to wash the taste of ash and dust out of her mouth.

“I had meant to check in on you, but there were four summonings within close proximity to each other. The man you met was especially bloodthirsty, but I assure you that the people he killed certainly deserved it.”

Julia gasped for air after chugging half the bottle. “Why didn’t you tell me that Kara had summoned you before?!”

Trill didn’t show a response. Her yelling or revelation had no effect on him. “Dealing with your requests is a conflict of interests for me. I am normally not allowed to discuss who has summoned me before or their requests, but I needed to pull you away from that fight before you lost your life.”

“I was fine!”

“You were in a room of shredded bodies, ones that were mutilated by powers that I had blessed onto another. Do not assume that you, an injured, somewhat nude woman, are capable of taking out a teenage boy with a pencil. Even on a good day. Or if he had not also be blessed with powers as well.”

Julia finished off the rest of the bottle and sat down on the bed. After her hospital stay, a high-class suite bed was absolute heaven. She immediately flopped on her side and curled her legs up. Trill, despite being a horrid demon, had a point, and she was going to pout about it.

“Where are we?”

“Philadelphia.” Trill sat down near her and patted her head again, which rewarded him with a low grumble. “The room will not be rented out tonight. You may use it as you please.”

“I need to go home and murder Eli,” she replied.

“I doubt that you have a home to go to.”

Julia attempted to sit up, but Trill shoved her back down by her shoulder. She was feeling too weak to fend him off at this time. “Of course I have a home. Dad didn’t move us out yet.”

“Your father wouldn’t remember that you exist. All he would know is that his only daughter died and that his wife took the opportunity to leave him. He will no doubt be in a daze for a few days, toss out any trace that you existed, and move on.” Julia looked up at him, clearly confused by what he meant. “The power I had blessed that boy was memory.

He has the ability to erase the existence of others from people’s minds but is unable to return those memories. While attempting to erase the knowledge that that girl had won the scholarship he thought he deserved, he nearly erased her existence completely. Your life was caught in the twist, and so was your other friend’s.

Your sister caught on and had no way to defend herself. That boy knew this and attempted to abuse it to his advantage in order to summon me again. He desires the ability to complete his power. The more he took, the more of himself that he erased, and he wishes to make himself more important to others.”

Julia closed her eyes. That would be why Eli had trouble finding others to do a ritual for him. No one would trust a stranger who ran around asking others to help him cast dark magic. How much of his own life did he accidentally erase? Was that the reason why he went after Kara? Because she couldn’t forget them because they had done the ritual together?

“Why did he target Kara, and why didn’t Britney mention it at all?”

Trill continued to pat Julia’s hair. Its puffy nature amused him, but she didn’t find it to be all that satisfying. “He had made an attempt to erase her in order to threaten your sister, but her wish for popularity backfired. They instead forgot about each other.”

That would explain why Britney was acting so nonchalant about Kara’s death. Mio had trouble acknowledging Mackenzie’s existence as well. The traces of individuals were still there, not completely forgotten, but others didn’t seem to care about them. Like how Julia felt a need to protect Mio but also didn’t want to socialize with her more than she had to.

Julia sat up and stared at Trill. He didn’t have that brightness to him. That was to be expected. The only thing he appeared interested in was ensuring that the ritual could be cast over and over again because it was how he worshiped his god. How he got his powers, or if he were even born human, were questions she knew she wouldn’t get the answer to.

“Is it true that you’ll continue to grant the desires of others if you’re summoned multiple times by them?” That was the reason why Eli was trying to be so persuasive.

“No,” he replied. “The ritual itself only needs one person to cast it, however, I will still grant the desires of three individuals each time. If there are fewer present, I will seek out those who have a deeply seeded want buried within them. Taking part in the ritual only helps to ensure that one has some say in the wish that is granted.”

“But Britney already used the ritual. Who did you go after when we did it with her?”

“Her mother, but I did not need to contact her directly. I only needed to alter the needs of those around her. The only thing she seeks is a cure to her loneliness, and her path will not block yours.”

Julia crossed her legs and settled her hands on her shins. “Does my desire have anything to do with Mackenzie? Is the reason why you wouldn’t say what it was before because Eli made me forget her?”

“The answer to that is not a simple yes or no, but the wish is one that I cannot grant for you until you remember what has been taken from you.”

“Is there a way for me to have a toy with Mackenzie in it? Like how you gave me one of Kara?”

Trill shook his head slowly. “Our contract allows me to know where your soul is, regardless of if you are dead or alive. I have no way of knowing where she is or claiming your soul for you.”

Julia looked away. Her hands tightened on her legs. “And the only way to get those memories back is by killing Eli…” Maybe Britney had a point when she said it. He was, in a way, a witch, and killing a witch is one of the few ways to break their curse.

“Indeed.”

The news made Julia lower her voice. “But this is all a conflict of interests to you… You said that you’re forbidden to talk about what you have done with others, yet,” she looked back up at him, “why be so open with me now?”

“Because by exchanging your heart for mine, you are now less human and more like me. As one of my kind, you have the pleasure of knowing my business.” His lips spread into a small smile. There was something about the way he had said it that sent chills up Julia’s back.

“... And what does that mean for me?”

“It means that you may one day have the power to once again claim your Mackenzie as your own,” he replied quietly. “Without the need of my services or help. You, without being bound by my rules, would have the ability to do everything you imagine and more.”

There was a catch. There absolutely had to be a catch. Her soul trapped in that horrid void that Kara had been placed or something she couldn’t quite imagine, but she somehow knew it was worse. She and Trill were no longer dealing with simple contracts. Julia had no way of knowing what the fine print was.

“.... But I want to see Mackenzie again,” she whispered. “Just so I can understand what it was that I felt.”

“Then you and I will have to train,” replied Trill. His lips spread into a wider grin, and his eyes were once again like starlight. As beautiful as they were in moments like this, Julia knew it meant something terrible was about to happen.