An ordinary day in Liberty City. The sun rises, the birds chirp, and for one high schooler no improvement could make this day any better. After all, today is the day of the St. Cecilia Homecoming dance and for Theo Trelio this means the chance to escort the lovely Hailey Penze to tonight's soiree. Unfortunately, for young Theo fate is often a fickle being. On his walk to school, a passing tanker's wheel comes loose! Spotting an elderly lady walking through the crosswalk young Theo does not hesitate a moment to rush into danger. Not a moment too soon either, for just as he pushes the woman out of the careening truck's path, that selfsame tanker twists and slides. Although Theo miraculously survives the oncoming pile of metal, he suffers a sharp blow to the head and several bruises, scrapes, and broken bones. For poor Theo Trelio there will be no dance tonight.

The whole school holds its breath as medics rush Theo's limp form to the hospital. In an age of social media and cell phones, news of his injury travels faster than the ambulance that wings him to aid. But even these electronic marvels cannot travel as fast as the mysterious means of the heart. For just as brave Theo Trelio's frail form collides with the careening car, a similar shock rocks through the body of Hailey Penze, also known as Eldritch Maiden!

"So Sarah wants Joey to ask her out but -." At that very moment across town, the car collides with Theo! Hailey's heart flutters. For an instant, it pauses as the tender thread of budding romantic interest between Hailey and Theo frays coming perilously close to snapping!

With a distant look in her eyes, Hailey's chatter ceases leaving her companion, Missy Anderson, in suspense. "So..." Wrenched back to reality Hailey replies with a disjointed "Huh?"

Missy responds "So what?"

"What."

"So what about Joey?"

The slow process of collecting her thoughts leaves Hailey distracted, forcing her to finish her piece uncertainly, "Well he just doesn't I guess."

"Oh, lame," replies her friend, aware that Hailey's wandering look and momentary disorientation are symptoms of a different problem. One she has of yet been able to solve, though of late it seems to appear upon her friend's visage more and more frequently.

Then Hailey shudders and turns to her worried companion. "I feel... I feel like something just happened."

"Like what?" Missy replies carefully.

"Like... I don't know! Just something bad okay?" The mounting frustration evident in her distraught tones, Hailey falls quiet wallowing in her obvious worry.

Carefully, concerned by this mood swing, Missy asks, "so, um, what did it feel like?"

"Like my heart just constricted or something, I don't know how to explain it but I have a strong feeling something terrible just happened." Hailey mutters irritated.

As Missy gathers her breath for a comforting reply, a sudden chime from her phone drags away her attention. Glancing down, certain she just received nothing more than a bit of gossip from a friend, she intends to clear the notification and resume her reassurance. But the words etched into the screen put a swift end to that thinking. This message tells of the savage impact poor Theo experienced just moments ago. Wordlessly she moves the phone's screen to Hailey's face. Watching her friend's dawning comprehension shatter her visage into one perilously close to tears she reaches out and embraces her in a soundless hug. The two ladies cling to one another in the face of such a suddenly cruel world. As the bus arrives at school, they disembark, racing towards the office and its precious access to Mrs. Andrew.

Mrs. Andrew, the receptionist, is a Knower of Things. Nothing occurs in the school without her knowledge and nothing happens to a student without her awareness. Even as other students reeled from the knowledge of Theo's accident Mrs. Andrew spoke with the policeman on the scene who informed her the full story of his selfless actions and, critically, gave her information as to which hospital the ambulance raced him to and his condition. Both of these facts she relates with frightening speed to the blotchy eyed Hailey and Missy who burst into her corner of the office.

Clearly out of breath from the race to reach her, she pauses for a moment, considering that they will doubtless skip class to see the boy. Then she recalls how she helped Theo gather the courage to ask Hailey in the first place, and how she gently suggested he ask her in the courtyard. Conveniently, her window looks right on that courtyard. Mrs. Andrew has a soft heart and she could not resist the chance to watch two of her favorite students during such a pivotal moment. Remembering the joyous look in Hailey's eyes and Theo's nervous energy throughout she realizes it would be a far crueler thing indeed to deny the girl the chance to see her beau.

As soon as she has the chance to sweep, firmly and politely, the two girls into chairs and settles a warm coffee in their hands she begins to impart what she knows. Mrs. Andrew never reveals her sources, after all, she's been a part of this school for over twenty years, and if people knew, she still called up old students for much of her information she would lose some of the mystique aura the student body affords her. The small measure of whimsy this grants her with the student body is well worth the minimal vigilance it requires. Upon initiation into her web of informants, most alumni implicitly agree to keep the secret anyways. So glossing over the policeman's, class of 2007, role she quickly relates what she knows and where the pair can find Theo. Cautioning them that he will likely be in the emergency room for a few hours, she watches as they race out with a smile. To be so young and need to attend everything quickly! Turning back to the computer, she sets herself a reminder to call a certain chatty nurse, class of 2010, in a few hours and begins to fill out forms excusing the girls from morning classes.

Mrs. Andrew's reflections, however, take place at glacial speed compared to the whirling fingers of a teenage girl. Before leaving the office, Missy has already sent a text to her father asking him to come pick her and Hailey up for a ride to the hospital. Too distraught to think about proper documentation the girls race back to the courtyard without considering asking Mrs. Andrew for any forms they might need taken care of. Fortunately, the good mood John Anderson's recent workplace fortune bestowed upon him extends to indulging his daughter in cases like this. Ever the 'shoot first and fill out paperwork later' kind of policeman Detective Anderson's concern for the proper forms is even lower than the two girls. A few tense minutes spent pining over the boy later a police car pulls up and out steps the Detective.

Hustling the pair of distraught damsels into his police cruiser, he sets off to the hospital without a word. Inside the car nobody speaks, not a sound but the hum of the engine exists. No words need speaking at a time like this. Upon arrival, the two shoot out of the car and race towards the hospital. Several tense hours later, they find themselves standing at a bedside, staring down what should be a young man. But beneath all the bandages, tubes, and damage Theo's visage is hardly recognizable.

Distraught the pair remains dry-eyed. When Theo awakes, it is slowly, groggy from the effects of the powerful sedatives doctor has subjected him. "Hey... Hailey? ... Wh... Where are my parents?"

Stepping into view Mr. and Mrs. Trellio reassure their son in quiet tones, commending his bravery and admonishing his recklessness. Then they relinquish the room his the girls and the many other friends that trickled in throughout the day. There is Brad, Tony, Sarah, and others. Even Mrs. Andrew sent a bouquet of flowers over via the chatty nurse. In slow tones, he relates the day's events to the audience and hears what he missed. They promise to think of him during the dance tonight and, satisfied by his apparent health and recovering vitality, they set off to prepare for the impending party. All, that is, except a certain pair of young ladies. The first to enter the hospital, they intend to be the last pair to leave.

Turning to her friend Hailey asks, "Hey Missy, do you need to go get ready for Jake?"

"Not yet. He knows why I'll be late. Besides if he doesn't like it he can find another girl to go with." At this, the pair crack weary smiles and share a look for just a moment. Then Hailey turns back to the figure on the bed and asks for a moment of privacy.

As Missy slips out of the room, she reaches into air, her fingers seeming to disappear into a crack that appears in the fabric of reality. Rooting about for a few seconds her face brightens and her arm recedes from the tear. Out she pulls a vicious looking dagger, complete with dried blood and hooks. For an instant, it seems to shudder in the presence of light, then it collapses in upon itself and molds into the shape of a womanly figure no taller than the blade that once occupied the space she now floats. Then she opens her impossibly tiny mouth and out comes a melodic voice, deceptively powerful belaying the creature's size "Child, what you ask for is not permitted."

"Not permitted? By who!? No, you will save him." Why the hint of desperation in her voice? Well, dear reader, the eyes of those who have stared down death often acquire a 'sixth sense' that indicates his presence lurking about those destined to pass. For one initiated to the infinities of magery this 'sixth sense' can become far more powerful. Young Eldritch's eyes possess an ability to see the specter of Death's certain passing with chilling certainty. For one of such youth and inexperience, this ability is an awful reminder of the price that accompanies such a gift. But for this moment Hailey finds herself secretly glad for it, she entertains a hope that her sight might provide her with answers of a sort.

Yes, we too should reflect for just a moment, to know the fortitude of Hailey's spirit. She stood for hours today watching that hungry demon ride Theo's should unable to cry out or banish it for fear her classmates would be alarmed to her abilities. Watching him fade without knowing she might save him she now, finally, has a chance to consult with the only entity capable of imparting to her the wisdom she needs to heal his injuries and shield him from this monster writhing about his shoulders even now. To confront all that only to meet with the spirits unequivocal 'no' is a sore blow.

"Child, I am sorry, but to save him does not demand mortal means. Death marked him. Naught we can do will drive him off."

"Then I will slay him. Tear apart his limbs and muzzle his jaws."

"What then? Without Death to extirpate magic from the corpses of man your immaterial beings would be as I am, bereft of a host and thus forced to a cocoon of spells or doomed to dissipate as the remnants of the fleshy bindings that hold together the soul disappear."

"This seems fine," Hailey pleads, "Death is just as terrible."

"Does my existence seem so wonderful? Trapped for eternity to a piece of metal? Indeed better than death, perhaps, but not better than death when claimed by Death. His role is to bind up the magic of your soul and return it to places where physical forms have less meaning. Without this, you die forever, a decay that occurs slowly as your soul unravels. You have seen this happen on your world to the elderly or to those afflicted by disease, as they lose memory and control of the body. I will not help you sentence humanity to this all for a single boy."

"Fine" Hailey snapped back "there has to be another way. Something I can do to convince Death to let him go. I won't lose him. Please."

"I am not the arbiter of such things. Your pleas mean nothing to me child. But I sympathize. Yet I do not know of any means to hide someone from death."

"Someone does though, someone has to. Just tell me a name, something, someone to talk to and I'll figure this out. Belinda I am begging you." The plea in her voice causes her to break into a warble on the last words. Her iron constitution is beginning to fail and with it, her composure starts to crack.

"I do not have some means of contacting the other spirits, I have spent my life in dedication to these arts and now I reside in a dagger. Do you imagine I have some sort of magical internet to speak with the beyond?" Belinda replies with an annoyed tone.

Then she softens, "And yet when I lived I learned much. My focus was ever on my ancestor and through her, I may have found some means of protecting him. The villain Thorm Athow intended to reside forever in the land of the living to escape the terrible price of his sorceries. His failure may instruct us to success in equal measure. But I caution you not to speak with him. That being is a monster unlike any other his spirit twisted into terrible forms made ever darker by the abuses he placed upon others."

"I don't care," Hailey says recklessly, "If he knows how to save Theo then it's worth hearing."

Belinda considers her gravely before continuing. "I will extract a promise from you first child, before I give you instructions on this. You will vow that if the price of Thorm Athow is too high you will not consider this path. I do not know what vicious spells lurk inside his mind. I do know the viciousness of his spell's application. I fear that to enact the same incantations will invite the same dark energy."

Raw relief flooding her voice, Hailey answers, "Done. Absolutely, definitely, no question. Theo... He just threw himself in front of a truck to save a woman's life. He would never want to make that kind of bargain." Reassuringly, she adds, "I'm not stupid Bel and I might be really upset but I'm not going crazy. I know I hardly know Theo, not well enough to know what he would really want anyways. But that doesn't mean I won't try. If I can save him then I will. If I can't" at this she pauses and collects a deep breath, "Then he won't be the first friend I've seen die."

Belinda quietly acquiesces, "Then come, and I will instruct you in the proper markings and runes to inscribe for our ritual to begin."

"Not here. Missy will probably be back in a minute and his family will want to be with him." Hailey replies with calm in her tone for the first time tonight.

"Return me to hiding then and find a suitable place. We must hurry child the ghoul begins to feed even now!" Belinda exclaims, looking at Theo.

As this, Hailey turns back towards the pale boy and sees the foul creature beginning the twisted act of slaking its hunger. Slowly and certainly, it covers his body with small runes and letters. With no apparent haste, the monstrosity does not threaten Theo's life in an immediate sense, but the steady writing is a stark reminder of the certain time constraint they fight.

Moving with purpose through the winding hallways of the hospital Hailey finds an out of the way lounge, slipping inside and locking the door she materializes the dagger and begins inscribing under the watchful eyes of her spirit. A few minutes later the circle, painted upon a non-descript lunch table, is complete. Now Hailey dons a mask she weaves from the air itself. Once garbed in her suit she begins a chant so foul the words seem to sit in the air polluting the room.

As her guttural hisses, rend the sky a horrible finger, decayed beyond sense or reason, worms though. Then a hand! Now another and the crack in the sky seems to push apart as though this awful monstrous form must force itself through the barrier between worlds. Finally, Eldritch's cant ends as the corpse tumbles through the hole and with a sickening thump, it falls to the earth. Then its eyelids part and from the place where its eyeballs should be an unholy gleam emanates. It is as though someone took the night sky and inverted it, transforming the darkness into light and the stars into holes of dark. Then, it speaks.

"Ahhhh my Belinda, you have chosen to return to me. Your flesh must hunger for my touch."

At these words, Belinda's face contorts in rage. She spits back, first an epithet of vile curses and finally "Know this, corpse; I am not the Belinda who had the joy of slaying you. But I carry her spirit so know that if upon any infinity you escape your prison I shall be ready to throw you back to the pits!" Then she turns, still angry, to Eldritch "Compel your answers from this mongrel, child, and inform me when you finish." At this, she disappears.

"I see now, the resemblance is uncanny but still her aura is different, yes she is only a child of my beloved." Thorm Athow sighs, "How wondrous to know her blood carried on. But how terrible to know she took another beloved besides me." For a moment, pure longing crosses his skeletal face. Then, the corpse chuckles and says, "Ah, it matters not, indeed I apologize you have waited so long friend of Belinda's descendant." Turning to face Eldritch the intensity of the eyes seems to flash, the darkness swirling.

Steeling herself for the task and quieting the tremor that she fears her voice will carry Eldritch speaks. "Spirit, know this. I pulled you from your prison of torments and I will return you. But in the time between you will answer my questions. If you do not then I will return you to the prison with further bonds such that your name will no longer pull you even for a time from the confines of your torment. If you answer me clearly then you may return secure in knowing that when your knowledge is needed you might have reprieve from the doom you brought upon yourself."

As if expecting such terms the spirit nods eagerly then impatiently intones, "Yes, yes I am familiar with such a bargain. Did you think your hand was the first to seek the dark spells of Atlantis? Others have bargained in better faith or for a longer reprieve but the dead do not have luxuries of choice. Let us begin then. What sorcery could you seek that a child of Belinda would allow? For my legacy does not often endear me to females, in particular one of that line."

Shooting him a disgusted look, Eldritch continues. "I am familiar with your crimes. I do not approve of torment, but yours is self-inflicted and I know no means to ease it for you so seek none from me. Understand me, snake, I mean to make good from your brand of darkness. If this cannot be done then I will have none of your evil."

Thorm Athow leans back and laughs, "Ah a child trying to sound adult! Did you rehearse those pretty phrases in your head while summoning me? And have I not told you already? I will make no attempt to betray or manipulate you. Even in life, I did not deceive. The costs and consequences of my spells were truly told to the men, and women," he leers at this, "of Atlantis."

Frustrated at the accuracy of his assessment, Eldritch snaps out, "Fine, so you won't lie to me. But I warn you nothing you teach me will leave this room without Belinda's review."

"Please," Athow waves his hand dismissively, "if you understood already what I can teach then you would not need me. You will have no method of knowing I am not leading you false because you do not know it already. But as I have said, in my abilities lies no deception."

Eldritch squirms uncomfortably saying, "Sorcerer, I warn you!"

Thorm Athow cuts her off, "Yes yes warnings indeed, exactly what I need from a girl-child."

Then the corpse bends down and begins to inscribe a circle. "Speak to me of what you wish to know, as terrible as the torment I shall return to is the sound of your voice is far worse."

For a moment, Eldritch hesitates. She knows, in her heart, that the foul being lies even now. His haste doubtless intends to prod her into rash action, and yet her need for haste presses upon her. Resolving to complete the work, she begun before she relates to Thorm Athow her dilemma and listens as he instructs her in a circle written in the energy of life that will ward off the creature Death until the boy has a chance to heal to such strength it cannot take him.

The price is constant vigilance. For the duration of her defense, the monster will prowl the edges of her circle nipping away at the bonds until it finds purchase and opportunity to steal the boy Theo away. So Eldritch must prevent this by wrestling with Death itself until Theo heals. The battle ahead will be long, longer still the more she delays creating the circle.

With Belinda's aid, she banishes Thorm Athow back to his abyss, and then races to the bed of Theo. But his haunting final words echo in her mind. With a chilly voice, he chuckled and promised Eldritch she would see him again. It was as if Thorm Athow had some unworldly sight granting him insight into her future so certain was his tone.

But such promises incite only dislike in Hailey now. We may never know if this foul oracle will prove correct, for if the coming combat against Death proves too great a burden... well the thought itself hardly merits our attention!

As Hailey bursts into Theo's room, she mentally steels herself for the coming flurry of spells. But as she inhales to speak her first words, she realizes Missy noted her absence, her friend stands impatient by the bed searching for the itinerant Hailey! "Hey yo, Hailey where did you go?"

"Oh just the bathroom. I think it's probably time for us to head home." Hailey replies after a frantic moment spent collecting her thoughts.

Missy hesitates, then replies, "Ummm hey idiot you know there's a bathroom in the room right?"

Hailey pauses, frantically thinking for reasons but Missy's next sentence sets her at ease "Probably wouldn't be respectful I guess. I mean if it were me I would be thinking all about him being right in the other room."

Walking over to her Missy wraps an arm about her shoulders and together they walk out of the room. Hailey manages to shake her friend by telling her she will be getting a ride home from her mother in a few minutes. As the police car, containing Missy and Detective Anderson wheels away from the hospital Eldritch turns back to the winding hallways and begins to gather back the spells that make up her costume. For a bare instant, before the gathering energy conceals her face Hailey lets the stress of the day reach her. Just between two breaths her face appears broken, the visage of a child borne to an adult's war far too soon.

But Eldritch cannot stop now! For her momentary hesitation is just that, momentary, and gone so fast that even we who know better could scarcely imagine it is not an illusion. Indeed, her resolve to save Theo is so great even if Hailey saw her expression in a mirror she would assume her eyes failed her. But resolve alone will not stop Death! Join us next week as Eldritch confronts the foul foe face to face in... "The Dance With Death!"