Into the Dark: A Rachel Torres Story. Part 3

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Warning: This is gets pretty dark.

She looks at me, unblinking, and says, “You have 30 less seconds to live, Detective. No more questions. Do as I say or your’s will be the next skin suit hanging on the wall.”

That shakes some sense into my fogged mind. “What do I need to do?”

“Take off your clothes and put on my skin.”

And now:

I stare at the translucent form of former Detective Rachel Torres and say the first thing that comes to mind: "What...the...fuck...?"

I think it was pretty well thought out, all things considered. She, however, seemed less than impressed. "You're now down to nine minutes to live, Detective. When that Void Seeker comes back here he's going to do to you what he did to me. That is not a death you want, believe me. Putting on my skin is the only hope you have of surviving. It will take you about three minutes to take off your clothes, two put on my skin, and three and a half or so to process my memories enough to enable you to survive. Lucky for you you're a latent Skinwalker else you would be dead, here or at home. He'll track your essence back to your home and kill you and anyone else he find there. "

"Eight and a half minutes."

I look back at the bed and the remains and my attention is drawn to something hanging on the wall, something that makes my brain hurt and my stomach rise into my throat. It blurs and I can't get a real look at it. For the first time the...apparition? seems disturbed. "Don't look at that! Looking at that too long will strip away your sanity now take...off...your...fucking...clothes!"

"Fuck!" I begin taking my clothes off, starting with my jacket and loosening my tie. "This isn't home, Detective, you're not hanging shit up in the closet, rip them off and put on my skin then put on my clothes. You'll need what's in them and for fuck sake, hurry!"

I begin tearing my clothes off, tossing them in heaps around the room until I'm standing there naked. "Fuck...." I'm trembling so hard I can barely move. "Now what?"

"Take my skin, look along my back and you'll see a seam, open it, put one leg in, then the other, put it on like a wet suit and hurry. You're under the wire."

Swallowing hard I pull her skin off the wall, my gorge rising again, and look at the back. Sure enough, I see the seam. I manage not to vomit as I slide a leg in to the surprisingly warm suit of flesh. I put in another leg then pull the whole thing up and over my body, feeling a strange compression. Lastly I pull...her face over mine and feel something along the back as the seam closes and suddenlyOHMYFUCKINGGOD!

I'm hit with memories of a life that isn't mine. The entire life of Rachel Anne Torres hits my brain like a freight train, images imprinting into my brain so fast I can't keep up. I fall to my knees and clutch at my head, assailed my alien thoughts, images, and feelings. I think I screamed but I can't be sure.

A voice cuts through the images and sensations, urgent now. "Get my clothing and get dressed, Detective, now! The Seeker took me unawares but you know he's coming so you can fight him! He hasn't opened the tear yet, he doesn't know a name so he can't draw power from the Sleepers. You need to stop him so he doesn't or all hell will break loose!"

I stumble forward, still fighting the images coming lightning fast and stagger over to her pile of clothes. Memories come and I know exactly how to put them on and where to place the tools of the Trade. I'm slipping the necklaces on when she yells, "He's here and he's coming fast!"

Suddenly I'm calm, cool, collected, and thinking straight. I know how to handle this puta. I pull out the Seal of Solomon and invoke the Name of Uriel, Archangel and Scourge of Heaven. The Name resonates in the air and the man coming through the door stumbles at the threshold.

Virgil Edwards, piece of trash, in the flesh. He smiles wickedly and pulls out a blade that makes my stomach turn. Like the thing over the bed I can't quite look at it. "Well, well, this is like my birthday. I get to kill you twice bitch and once I get your skin off this prick, I'll hang him next to you." He comes in at me fast but I'm ready this time. I raise a hand and a greenish bolt of power screams out and takes him in the chest, knocking him ass over tea kettle and into the next room. He gets up fast and I invoke the name of Gabriel. A golden shield surrounds me and I throw another Levin bolt at him, catching him in the chest again. He screams and flies across the room, slamming into the wall of his shitty flat.

"Not this time, Seeker. You will not open a Tear and once I'm done with you, I'll repair the damage you've done (Where the fuck did that come from?)."

Edwards gets up and spits blood at me before laughing. "I'm closer than you think, whore." He intones a word and the world...shifts. The shadows become more pronounced and I see the light from my shield dim."

"Did you think you were the only one who could invoke, whore? The Abyss may yet be closed but I know syllables of a name, enough to rip open a tear right here and now. Deal with what comes through, bitch!" He laughs and turns to the wall as I throw another bolt at him but he moves aside and the wall explodes outwards, showing a sky much darker than it should be. He dives outside laughing and I get ready to give chase when I hear a scream behind me. "NO! We need to shut that tear, now!"

I turn back and there, hanging in the air in front of me, is a black hole, small, but blacker than anything I've ever seen and I know what he's done. He's opened a tear to the Outer Void, not the Abyss where the Sleepers dwell but close and, judging by the tentacles coming through and seeking to widen the tear, he got the attention of something nasty.

This is not the day I expected when I woke up, two voices say in my mind.

I pull out the silver dagger and invoke the name of the Archangel Michael and it bursts into flame.

"OK fucker, let's dance."

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