“Get in the car!” yelled a woman.

Looking all around, confused, Sam realized that this vixen with a gun was talking to him.
Sweat began to bead on his brow as he stared at the barrel of the firearm only inches from his chest.

“Are you deaf? I said get in!” she commanded again, and waved the gun towards the open door of the car.

“I think you have the wrong guy,” he protested.

“I know exactly who you are, Sam Walker. Do you?” she asked, giving him a smirk. The almost playful attitude she had delivered the line with made his head spin even more. Was she joking? Why was she smiling? It was broad daylight and she was abducting him.

Truly, this was no laughing matter. Half convinced now that it was a hoax, he started in the other direction.

Hearing the shot, he cringed and dropped to the ground. The boom was so near and loud, it made his ears ring.

“Next one is going in your belly,” she cautioned more stern than before.

He rose to his feet and checked himself. He was uninjured. The warning shot had merely been fired into the air. Without further hesitation, he climbed into the car. She was brazen and he did not want to incur her fury. She followed him in, forcing him into the driver’s seat.

“You know how to drive, right?”

“Of course,” he replied.

“Well, there are a lot of non-drivers in New York. I just wanted to make sure.”

“I thought you knew all about me?”

“I said I know who you are. That doesn’t mean I know about you.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. None of this makes any!” he said, getting agitated.

“You’ll find out soon enough. Let’s go. The navigation will tell you were,” she said, keeping the gun trained on him.

He stole sly glances in her direction while they drove in silence. She was thin for her height, with black hair that fell down her back in loose waves. Her eyes were nearly as dark, but had a sort of light within them. The skin exposed by her dark red tank top revealed a multitude of tattoos. He wondered if there was a bare spot of flesh on any part of her torso.

“Just keep your eyes on the road,” she said when she noticed him studying her.

“Who are you? Why did you take me?”

“I need your help.”

“You have a strange way of asking. Besides, I’m a nobody. I work in an office. I’m not even a manager. I spend every day in a tiny cube, hating my life.”

“There’s so much that you don’t know.”

“Then enlighten me.”

“A few years ago, while attending art school, I started to get into the occult.”

“The occult?” he asked, skeptically.

“Yes. Ok. Look, I was trying to find inspiration. And I did. Until, well, until it all started to get real.”

“Real?”

“Yea. I fell in with a coven, and we were summoning spirits and demons, casting spells. It was all really cool. Until I got marked.”

“Marked? Like, a hit?”

“Kind of. Only, it doesn’t matter where I go or what I do, because the thing hunting me isn’t human. It can find me, anywhere.”

“What does any of this have to do with me?”

“I did a locater spell and found you. You have a power inside you that can stop this beast.”

“Me?”

“Yes. You are a pure soul. The best around. Inside of you there is an honestly great man, just waiting to be found.”

He felt inflated by this. A hope and purpose swelled up inside him. He did not want to believe her or be so naive, but it felt true.

“I can save you?” he asked.

“Yes,” she paused. “We’re here.”

He pulled into the empty parking lot. An abandoned warehouse stood in front of them. He parked and they went inside. The windows were covered in years of dirt and neglect, making the interior very dark.

“So, are you going to train me? Do I get a weapon, or magic or something?”

“Or something,” she said.

A sharp pain struck his head. Before he could make sense of it, he fell to the ground, unconscious.

As he came to, disoriented and groggy, he realized he could not raise his body. He was lying on a platform with his hands and feet bound. Candles were lit all around him. He could see movement just beyond them.

“Hello? Strange girl?” he called out.

She walked towards him. She had changed clothes, and now wore a dark hooded cloak that went all the way to the floor. He could see nothing but her face, and the knife sticking out of her sleeve.

“What’s going on? I thought you said that I was going to help you?”

“You are,” she replied.

“But, I don’t understand.”

“The only way to appease the thing hunting me is with a sacrifice, a pure and good blood one.”

He panicked and struggled against his restraints. It was no use, he was tied to tight.

“Don’t do this!” he pleaded.

She stood next to him and raised the blade high. She bowed her head and began to speak.

“In the name of you, Lxryn, I sacrifice this man. Let his pure blood feed you, let his noble flesh sustain you. Let this offering release me from your wrath.”

With that she plunged the knife downwards. Sam noticed how cold the steel was before the pain set in. The sensations were short lived, as the blow was true, and hit him in the heart. Before it could stop pumping, warm blood ran over his body, and spilled onto the symbols painted on the floor.

The woman fell to her knees, sobbing. She was finally free. She had done horrible things to gain this liberty, but it was over now. She could finally resume her life without fear of the occult.