Spitecaller Ch. 3
Chapter 3
After cleaning up the mess we had made, I finish my closing duties and lock up the store. The wards against theft were powered up and set until tomorrow. "Curiouser and Curiouser" was not open overnight. I smooth a muss in my fur down with one paw as I turn around and start down the sidewalk towards home.
The night was not too hot for summer. I usually jog home from work and thank the Gods for that. The running shorts, tank top, and sneakers in my backpack were in their place in the employee lounge/office. My clothes from my earlier session were used to clean up sweat and thicker things. I smile fondly and my tail swishes happily. I do not think I will be awkward around the delivery otter for a while.
The street lights flicker on as the sun dips behind the treeline. I feel mana from the city's stores flow through the lines. Its a particularly sensitive talent and one that I am content with. Wind ruffles my fur as I pop in the earbuds to my phone and select my first song to run with.
The bass kicks off and my footpaws pound the pavement, keeping rhythm. The darkness starts to creep into the world and I focus on mouthing the words to the song as I go. I always get lost in the music and merge into the trance. As I turn the corner into my neighborhood, a light from a window catches my eye. The light was from the second story window of an abandoned house. This house is one of the weirder places in the world. Visitors from all over come to see the suspected haunting, but that is a novelty for those that lack true talent. Ghosts, spirits of the departed, or whatever you want to call them, they stick to places but are not a nuisance to anyone trained in the summoning arts. Ritual cleansing happens regularly and banishment is easy. However, the more malevolent spirits are harder to fight. Which is why it is wise to stay away from this house.
So why is it that there are lights on in the place?
I pull out my earbuds and wrap them around my phone as I turn to open the gate. Oh. I am quite sure the audience for this horror film is going wild now. Don't go in there, you stupid fox! Ugh! Why do they always have to check it out?! Yeah, yeah. That's me. The stupid fox.
I call a small string of light mana from the nearby post and stretch it through my claws. With my other paw, I pull some personal mana and weave it through the brighter strand. The finished product is a pair of goggles that I place over my eyes. Now, I can explore the dark house and see what lurks within. Who needs flashlights?
The unkempt lawn outside stretched up to the house's veranda. Unused chairs and other furniture sat in the growing dusk. Half moon windows gave glimpses of an empty hallway through the front door. Which was unlocked, by the way. Surprised? A muffled conversation greets me as I enter the place. I quickly scan the hallway and the adjoining rooms for any presences. Crouching down, I move as silently as possible, perking my ears up to hear the conversation. I can feel something in the house and it raises my hackles.
"Just get on with it, scaredy-cat!" Is the first statement I can make out clearly from upstairs. Judging by the timbre of the voice, the speaker was very young.
"No...I-I d-d-don't want to ask anym-m-more."
Great. Another dare gone wrong by some middle schoolers.
We are all taught early on that there are lower class spirits called Kreplings that feed on fear. Children are the most easily accessed but most are just fed on and scared away. Unless, of course, there is a nest of them. With this kind of unsettling though? I doubt there are only one or two. The best thing you can do is have faith and courage.
I straighten up from my crouch and stride up the stairs to the room with the light flowing from under the door. Opening the creaking portal, I notice the wooden floors are covered in haphazardly drawn summoning runes and candles. Amateurs.
"Okay, wrap this up now. Party's over." I try to affect an adult tone. The three cheetah cubs whirl around fearfully. One of them is standing right in front of a krepling that is caught in a binding circle. Its spiny, purple body undulates to some unseen music. I have heard of these rites of youth but have never had the distaste to practice one. Kids will be kids,I guess.
"Oh please, Mister. Don't tell our parents on us." The middle one says without stammering. The krepling opens a mouth lined with needle-like teeth and hisses.
"Okay, first of all? No." I say as I slide my paw over a candle. The flame flickers out and becomes a red strand. Weaving it into a dagger, I hurl it into the krepling and it explodes with a pop.
"No playing with dark forces. Aren't you kids taught that nowadays in school?!" I demand fiercely.
They all have the grace to look abashed until one of them; I assume the oldest and the instigator, speaks up. "We were just practicing for our binding circles lessons."
"Second, its not 'mister,' its Ian." I regard the room and kneel down to their level. "And I'm not gonna tell your parents anything, okay? So, just calm down. If you're afraid, it'll attract more kreplings." They visibly relax. "What are your names?"
"I'm Wren," pipes the oldest one. "I've almost lost my whole mantle."
"Chris," says the middle one that spoke earlier.
The youngest one looks tearfully from the binding circle to me but does not utter a word.
"That's Tigh," Wren finishes. "He's the 'fraidy-cat that fed the krepling."
I walk over to Tigh and put a paw on his head between his ears. Chewing my lip to buy a couple moments, I consider my words before I speak. Kids are hard to make understand what they are doing wrong. However, you can not just leave them to their own devices. Ugh. I am so not a kitsitter.
"If you guys want to do this in the future, at least prepare yourselves better." I take a candle and drip wax on to the binding circle. "The fire rune is too high and the water rune isn't even drawn correctly."
The cheetahs crowd around me to look at the work.
"You're not gonna yell at us...?" Chris ventures.
I scoff. "I was doing way worse things when I was your age. So, no. I won't patronize you for this." I give them a stern look. ""But like I said, you need to master protection spells before you do stupid stuff like this in the future. Alright? But, I'm not your teacher or your parent. I'm just a stranger that happened to walk by at the right time."
Finishing the binding circle, I can hear it hum the right tone and my ears flicker. So do Tigh's.
"You can hear it?"
The little cheetah nods, wide-eyed.
"Good," Before I continue, I shut my mouth and glance down again at Tigh. "Everything's alright now. You don't have to be afraid, okay?"
He shakes his head and clamps his eyes shut, murmuring.
I bend down, brow furrowed, to listen. "What's wrong...?" I whisper.
"Something else is here."
Of course. The feeling from earlier. I grab the small cheetah and motion to his brothers. "C'mon. We need to leave now." They speed off ahead of me down the staircase. Oh yeah, cheetahs are fast.
I pound down the stairs after them just in time to see the door slam shut in their faces. Their little paws beat against the wood and jerked at the handle to no avail. I reach up and grab the mana-goggles still attached to my eyes and throw them at the door. They bounce off some kind of shield and ricochet, allowing me clearer vision of the hallway. More kreplings have come.
I move in front of the trio and plant my footpaws firmly. Look at me, tough-as-nails protector of the weak. My goggles return to my outstretched paw and I replace them on my face. I wet my lips nervously. The ceiling, walls, and floor are crawling with kreplings. I can not stop a touch of fear from seeding itself in my chest. The closest ones hiss.
"Don't be afraid." I voice, points to me for not wavering. "Wren, Chris, Tigh...don't feed them anymore than they already have been."
I only hear small whimpers behind me.
The first krepling reaches within a foot of my comfort zone. Oh hell, the whole house is my comfort zone, but still. I look down as imperiously as I can and reach into my backpack for the charged fetish. I have no time for a full ritual but perhaps the energy from a bound spirit of Taz's caliber will give them something to think about.
Removing the glowing piece of wood, I clear my throat. "Kreplings, you've fed enough for tonight. Let us leave and I won't blast the lot of you."
Slithering and clicking sounds reply before a voice could be heard. <strong>We who are here can not let those who have intruded depart</strong>.
I grind my teeth through their unpleasant language.
"Why not?"
I ask the forbidden question.
"What is that which dwells here...?"
I watch as the kreplings collectively shudder and slither off away from the hallway. Their spiny bodies molding into cracks in the walls and holes in corners. They are afraid. What scares kreplings?
<strong>Those who have intruded spoke of it</strong>.
My mana goggles left my face and carried my vision down the hall to the doorway at the end. They pass through the thick wood into the room behind. Aged sofas and fabric covered tables were strewn about the place as my eyes were taken to a wall. A feeling of immense dread fills me as I was forced further inwards. The wall presses into me and I passed through into a dark crawlspace between rooms. The quiet was so complete that I could even hear my breathing from across the house.
Something moved on the floor. An inexorable blanket of darkness rose from the center of the floor into a vaguely humanoid shape. Its head rotates in the gloom and two eyes bore into the back of my skull.
It saw me.
I scream and wrench myself out of the spell and back into my own body. How it managed to astral project me through my mana goggles would have to wait until later. Raising one paw, I grab all the strands of fire from the candles still lit upstairs and rip them down, coalescing them into a ball of energy. No time for finesse. I hurl the ball of fire at the front door and crouch protectively over the cheetahs at impact.
Wood shards and glass burst outwards noisily and I shove them forwards.
"Go! Go! Run home NOW!" I yell and they sprint off into the night.
I follow suit.