Seth fell backwards onto his bed, black circling his vision as he pressed his jacket into the massive blood spout in his side. The pressure on the wound hurt, bad, but his blood had to stay in his body. The jacket was sopping wet in his hands, and all of that leaked onto the comforter and mattress.

Jessica burst back into the room, throwing a book on the chair beside the window and spreading out a series of bags next to his head. He could faintly hear cursing under her breath. She pried his hands and jacket away from the wound and another giant spurt of blood exited his side. He had no idea how he was still alive. He couldn’t remember the drive back as she began undressing his upper body. Had they driven back?

“Agh!” He screamed as Jessica shoved something into the wound, something coarse and gritty. It burned like she had thrown salt and lemon juice in there. And then it got worse. He felt intense heat blasting into him. She was fucking cauterizing the wound. He looked over, his vision hazy, as fire flowed from her hands into his side. He could feel the heat on his face. He blacked out.

***

Seth had seen his share of horror movies and TV shows. So when he was awoken by hunger, the panic followed shortly after, because this was nothing like normal hunger. He sat bolt upright in a now spotlessly clean bed, the sun already high in the sky through the window. He was stripped completely, and lacking any bandages. He remembered the cauterization. It was the one thing after the wendigo biting him that was clear. He looked down and was unsurprised that what should have been an ugly burn mark was a small, rapidly fading pink scar.

The macabre thought of chopping off a limb to test the increasing prowess of his healing abilities crossed his mind, but that thought was rapidly pushed away by the gnawing hunger in the pit of his stomach, and the fear that accompanied it. Seth swung out of bed and stumbled to his duffel for clothes, lightheaded and dizzy. Weak. He ripped out a pair of boxers and fumbled his way into them just as Jessica came through the door.

Seth’s mouth instantly watered as he whipped to face her. She carried a plate piled with raw steak, and it smelt delicious. His sudden turn dropped him, though, and he fell on his ass against the wall. Jessica knelt in front of him, offering the dish. “Eat it,” she said.

Seth didn’t need to be told again, as he snatched the plate of steak and tore into the meat, not even bothering to use the fork and knife. Jessica crossed over to his bed and sat down, watching him.

“Welcome back to the Intersection.”

Seth paused for a brief moment, the pull towards the meat almost too strong to ignore. He swallowed the chunk he had in his mouth. “How long was I out?” He was already stuffing his face again.

“The remainder of the night and the morning. It’s just after noon. Your healing is getting even faster—I think every time you’re hurt your body gets a little bit better at fixing itself. That, or…” She trailed off for half a second before fixing him with a cold stare. “You did get bit by a wendigo.”

Seth finished the plate not even two minutes since starting it, and let it rest in his lap. He was satiated for now, but he felt wrong. Guilty. Even worse, he felt like he’d just pigged out on sushi. It was good, but he’d be hungry in just an hour or two. He looked to Jessica. “Is that one that works just like on TV?”

She pursed her lips and nodded. “Basically. Get bit by a live one, or eat your own species while one in spirit form is nearby. Both turn you.”

“Fuck.”

“You got that right.” She massaged her temples. “Okay. So. This is completely, totally beyond my ability to heal. Blood curses aren’t exactly… I can Overdraw to Class Nine with a lot of prep. It takes more than that to pull a blood curse. You have to sustain that level of casting. I can’t do that. I physically cannot.” She paused. “And I’m not going to even touch a necromancy spell.”

“So who can we call?”

“My Order. But, uh… Due to some events in the past, they don’t exactly screw around. They have a very scorched earth policy when it comes to anything from the Negative Plane.”

“So what? They blast that guy off the mountainside?”

“No, Seth. They destroy the town. In order to protect you, they’d send multiple Archmage-class sorcerers. More than enough power to wipe this entire place off the map and make it look like a natural disaster.”

“That’s wrong, though. No one here has done anything.”

“Yeah, but better safe than sorry. Like I said, some things happened a couple hundred years ago that made my Order very cautious about this kind of thing. Especially— Well. They just are.” Jessica folded her arms over her stomach. She looked genuinely scared.

Seth swallowed in response. “Jess? What’s going to happen to me?”

“Well,” she hesitated. “You’re not going to die. My Order won’t let that happen.”

“But I’m going to turn into a wendigo.”

“Um, not necessarily.” She looked out the window, rubbing her forearms. “Whatever it is in your bloodline that makes you… All of this, is probably strong enough to slow or halt the wendigo curse.”

“Probably?”

She sighed. “Probably. A normal human would be completely consumed by the desire for flesh by now. You’re hungry yes, but your body also just regenerated a considerable amount of tissue. So that factors in. Do you, all kidding aside, want to eat me right now?”

He shook his head.

“Then if you don’t feel that way by sundown, you’re probably going to be safe for a bit. Hungry, yes. But unless you voluntarily commit cannibalism, you’re not going to turn. And it appears the strength in your blood is going to make that an actual choice. Rather than the poor bastards who get bit and turn so blind-hungry they simply take a bite out of whoever is closest.”

Now that the gnawing hunger was abated—for now—Seth set the plate on the ground and stood to his feet. He moved slow, afraid that he was about to be light-headed or something like he had been before. He pushed off the wall and made sure he had his balance before turning to Jessica. “Am I good to go for a walk? I need to clear my head.”

She nodded. “If you feel hungry, eat. Just not… Not human. Obviously.” She offered a faint smirk. “Get back soon, we’re going to have to do some digging to find out if there’s anything we can do about this. I don’t want the OMF descending on this town.”

“Right.” He nodded, unable to smile, as he found some clothes in his duffel bag and put them on. Jeans. Flannel. Socks. Boots on the floor. Nope. He took those off. They were still covered in blood. His running shoes would do for now. It would be warm enough during the day.

Seth tried offering Jess a smile, but more of a grimace crossed his face as he exited the room, heading to the elevator as quickly as he could. His phone and wallet were on a small stand in the entryway and he grabbed them. Not a good idea to not be able to communicate with Jessica.

The elevator only had to descend eight floors, but he found himself moving back from foot to foot as it stopped at the lobby and waited just a few seconds too long to open the door. He walked out, through the lobby, and onto the street of the lodges. The wind whipped hard, but the sun high overhead beat some of the cold away. Enough that it didn’t bother him, even with his newfound sensitivity to the elements.

Seth strode down towards the main building of See Forever Village. If that bartender didn’t card, he needed a drink. Only halfway down the street, he heard a honk from behind him.

He turned back to his right to see Mariah leaning out of the window of a black Ford Ranger. She furrowed her eyebrows. “You okay? You look pale as shit.”

Seth forced a smile to the corners of his mouth, managing to make it past ‘grimace’ and to ‘polite’. “Yeah. Just, uh.” He rubbed the back of his neck and looked down the road. “Bad news back home. Just trying to get a drink.”

Her face softened. “The bartender doesn’t card only if there’s someone actually old enough there. You sure you okay? Eighteen’s real young to start a drinking in the middle of the day habit.”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just need to fix my nerves.”

“You are talking like an alcoholic. Where’s your friend?”

“Back in the room.”

“Come hit the slopes with me. No black diamond stuff. You can talk about what happened or not, but you don’t need to be drinking, I don’t think.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Maybe not.”

“Hop in.”

Seth hesitated for only the briefest moment before crossing in front of her car and getting in the passenger seat. The cab of the car was immaculate except for a few loose Rockstar cans here and there. One currently sat in the cup holder between them. She looked over, studying him. “Look, Seth, I know we just met, but if you need someone to talk to about family stuff, I’m that person. Okay? Otherwise, just shut up and let’s have some fun on the slopes.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I don’t think I need to talk.”

“Okay,” she said, smiling. The car moved forward.

Seth took out his phone and quickly told Jessica where he was going. He didn’t get any immediate response so he put it back in his pocket. Mariah raised the volume on the rock she was playing, but as soon as she did Seth’s phone buzzed and he took it out again with a bit of annoyance.

Be CAREFUL. The moment you feel hunger, get food. I mean it! And be back by sundown!

Seth’s eyebrows scrunched down for a moment. I will. Promise.

It felt like a leash, but he knew better than to question Jessica on a matter of magic. He didn’t really feel like growing antlers and going on a cannibal rampage. And Seth was sure that Mariah would appreciate him not munching on her skull, too.

“Family?”

He hesitated.

“No, I’m not prying. Just checking. Let me know if I’m too much, okay? I know way too much about messed up family situations. Deaths, divorces, the lot.”

He looked out her window as they headed down towards the lifts. Seth felt like he was asking an unearned question. He didn’t really have anything going on with his family. It was just a convenient excuse to avoid having to say: ‘I just got bit by a magical monster from the Negative Plane and I’m going to start cannibalizing people around me pretty soon’. “I’m sorry, that sounds rough,” was what wound up coming out.

“It’s in the past, you’re the one I’m concerned about.”

“It’s nothing new.” Not quite a lie. Certainly different than the werebears, but no, not new.

“My dad cheating on my mom wasn’t anything new. Doesn’t mean it didn’t suck to find out about any less the fifth time it happened.”

Seth clenched his teeth. “Yeah, reverse for me.”

“Sucks. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, not really anyone’s fault. They had other issues that neither of them could handle, even apart.”

“What kind?” She touched his arm briefly. “Not prying.”

“You’re fine. My dad had a—“ Seth hesitated. How much did he really want to say? The details of his parents’ divorce was, ironically enough, tangential to all the things he wasn’t supposed to say out loud. “My dad was paranoid about a lot of stuff. Never found out until I was older, and it caused a lot of anger on my part. My mom knew and it drove her away.”

Mariah nodded. “Sometimes people are just bad matches. How are they doing now?”

He chuckled. “My mom is doing great. My dad? He’s there. Lost his ambition. Just floating along until retirement.”

“You get along?”

“Better now that I know the truth. Still not great.”

The car slowed to a stop in the parking lot adjacent to the lifts. He looked over to her. Her eyes shone with understanding as Seth struggled to offer a half-smile.

And then his stomach rumbled. Loudly.

Mariah’s eyebrows shot up. “Goddamn, you good there?”

“Uh, no.” He forced a chuckle that he definitely didn’t feel. “Let’s grab a little bite before we hit the slopes. I slept through breakfast.”

She held up a finger and made a mock-scolding face. “Drinking on an empty stomach is bad!”

“What, I’m supposed to leave that to the adults?”

“I-“ She drew her lips up in a grimace that said his jest was better. “Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

“Not planning on it. I am planning on eating though.” Seth could feel the hunger deep inside of him, like his stomach was trying to wrap itself around his spine. That had onset fast. He looked around outside the car and saw the scattering of restaurants. No, something more immediate. The gift shop probably had snacks.

He exited the car to a sound of surprise from Mariah and stopped himself five steps out to turn to her as she exited and locked her vehicle. “Damn, Seth. You get this hangry all the time?”

“Just most of the time.”

“You trying to sit down?”

“Hell no.” He beelined towards the gift shop, each step feeling like it cost more than ten times the calories it should. Seth’s head started to swim as he entered through the door. He could see snacks in the back. It took only seconds to snatch a bag of beef jerky and almost run to the register. He was paid and out the door just as Mariah walked in, and almost pouring the jerky down his throat by the time she turned to watch him.

“Seth! Holy shit, are you okay?”

The meat hit his stomach and he regained some clarity. “I think so?”

Most people have never had a seizure. Now, Seth could say that he had. The world went black.

***

Seth saw nothing but darkness around him. Inky, swirling void, pitch black until his eyes began to adjust.

He could make out shadows, shapes of angles and curves. He could feel what he thought was grass underneath his feet, cold and damp with maybe dew. He turned in circles, trying to make some sense of what little he could see.

A moment passed, his vision getting only slightly better before he realized his stupidity. His third eye blinked open and the world was awash in an orange haze. He could see ruins around him, fallen fragments of a building long since abandoned.

“Creepy place.”

Seth started at the voice from his right, and turned to face it. A man sat against some fallen rubble, most of his torso hidden in the shadows of the building, hands in his pockets. He chuckled. “But that’s the Negative Plane for you, am I right?”

Seth looked around. The orange light came from the sky above, washing down from some oblivion on this ruined town he found himself in. “Yeah… I guess. Is that where this is?”

“Mhm.” The man himself had no aura. Seth noted that as odd. Very odd. “That would indeed be where we find ourselves.”

“And who are you?”

The man made a small movement with his upper body, and Seth could just make out a smirk on his face. The rest of his features were indiscernible. Something about that smile was familiar, though. “Call me your subconscious.”

“Okay, I’m in a horror movie, got it.”

The man leaned back further into the shadows, and Seth couldn’t make out even an expression now. “No, I like horror movies. This… This I don’t like. And I certainly don’t like what that means for us.” He pointed at Seth.

Seth tilted his head. “What are you talking about?”

“The antlers, buddy. The antlers.”

Seth’s eyebrows shot up as he slowly felt up the side of his face, and then over the sides of his head. There, sprouting about halfway between his hairline and his crown, were two small antler nubs, not even a point between them, but there nonetheless.

“Wendigo curses suck, man,” said Seth’s ‘subconscious’. “Blood curses in general do. But hey, at least you’re not turned yet. I’m guessing that fine piece of ass you call a best friend is keeping you nice and full.”

“Hey,” snapped Seth. “Her name’s-“

“Yeah, fucking Jessica. Trust me, kid, I know. Her and I go way back. But you should know that, I’m your subconscious.”

Seth shook his head. It felt weird, he was starting to be able to feel the antlers, and turning his head quickly brushed the heavy air of the Negative Plane over them. “No, I’ve never thought about Jessica that way.”

“Sure you have. Once or twice. But I just meant that we go back. Not like that. Jesus.” The man turned his head to look at his shoulder, and brushed something off it. “Goddamn Negative energy. Gets everywhere, it’s unsanitary. Christ!” For the briefest moment, the man was wreathed in black flames. Seth took an instinctive step back, raising his arms to shield his face, but as quickly as the fire appeared, it was gone. “That’s better.” The man gave a full smile this time, and that was enough. Seth remembered.

He remembered his dream several months ago, after the shamans had attacked at homecoming. He remembered that marble hallway, the darkness… He remember that being smiling back at him from within it.

“Ah, there it is,” said the man.

“How-“

“Did you know what I thought?” Finished the man. “Subconscious, remember?” He shrugged. “Or closest approximation. I’m not exactly yours, per se. But I am subconscious.”

“You’re not making sense.”

“Yeah, and that’s probably best. See this, right now? It’s just a fever dream. Like that hallway with all the pretty things on the altar. This isn’t real. I’m not here, literally fighting tooth and nail to keep that curse from taking over your blood. No. You’re managing it by not eating human. This has nothing to do with me. The curse certainly didn’t wake me up before I was supposed to.”

Seth felt like he was supposed to take up a fighting stance, but the man in the shadows wasn’t making any threatening postures, so Seth just crossed his arms. “I can understand sarcasm, you know.”

“Good. Unlike Finnegan in goddamn Dublin, you’re not…” The man smiled again. “You can understand me.”

“Who are you? The last person who visited me in my dreams… Back when all this first started, was some demon Nicole worshiped.”

The man clicked his tongue. “Oh no. I’m nothing like Hastur.”

Seth was startled by that. “You… know its name?”

“His, don’t misgender, Seth. Hastur is definitely a masculine entity. Toxicly masculine. Which is funny, because I always thought Mephistophles would be the one…”

Seth shifted his weight. “Okay, since you know so much… how do I get out of here?”

“Ah. Now we ask the relevant questions. Well, Seth, you really have to ask, are you here? Or is just your spirit? If that’s the case it’s just a simple matter of waiting until Jessica wakes us up, since this is all accidental and you didn’t project. Oh,” he said, looking up into the hazy, orange sky. “And there she is. See you next time, buddy.”

And the world around Seth began to fade back to reality.