Stars Align

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"Hey, time to wake up over there."

Rivkah looked up from the hand mirror at the man standing across the room from her at an easel. The man nodded at her, pushing up his glasses with paint-covered hands, leaving a drop of red on the bridge of his glasses. "How you feeling?"

Rivkah dropped the mirror on the bed next to her, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees. "...Tired," she said, for lack of a better word. A better word might be... distant? Like the feeling you got after a long time spent daydreaming. "What time is it?"

"Nine," Dylan said, his light brown curls falling down between his glasses and his eyes as he turned back to his painting. He blew up at the hair, trying to get it out without using his hands. "See anything?"

Rivkah shook her head. "Jack shit," she said, blinking hard. "Maybe something, but I don't remember it."

"Don't let it discourage you. Probably we haven't found the right medium for you yet," he said, studying his painting. "It's easy to get lost looking, too."

"I know," she muttered, standing up and stumbling as her legs nearly gave way. She felt way too weak after that.

"I was gonna order pizza soon if you want any," Dylan said, putting down his palette on a table near the easel. "You probably shouldn't go out yet like that,"

"Pizza is awesome," Rivkah said, wandering over towards the window and pulling open the blinds. She stared down from Dylan's window on the fifth floor of his apartment complex to the city below. Clubs were starting to light up already, filling up with college kids drinking and dancing away the weekend. Dylan lived in the heart of the 'college' district of the city, near the university campus - the guys who lived there called it Dinkytown.

She heard the sound of running water as Dylan turned the sink on. "You gonna go out and join them?" he asked.

Rivkah shrugged. "Maybe. Why the hell not."

Once she settled in the shadows it was surprisingly easy to stay - really, she was more worried about making it out now. Maybe she should have learned this before shadowwalking - she usually just dove in and hopped out without taking time to think.

The demon looked hazy from within the shadows, like he and everything else were what was in shadow. But he seemed to see her fine. She smirked at his question, but stayed quiet. She was hiding after all.

She grimaced, giving him a suspicious look. This was a good place to do a summons, but if the dogs were gonna stick around it wasn't.

Rivkah shifted in the shadows, popping out outside the store and hopping through smaller shadows to the stairs. Why she was listening to him...

"Where exactly are you leading me?" she said as she came upon the mist, just as he said, with the barest of paths through it, just as he said.

"I didn't even - that's not what I meant," she said, pulling her pocketknife out and getting ready for some cursing. "I mean the end goal, smartass. You said there's no way out so where the fuck are we going?

"What, so you mean they have this place magically locked down but didn't think about me just walking out of here?" Jesus that was stupid, there were tons of service exits, one sniper on the main doors wasn't going to stop her.

Still, it changed things for her. So take every one of them on... or get the fuck out of here. She was a little disappointed - she had been kinda looking forward to summoning a demon and raising hell and all - but she wanted out.

"Yeah, yeah," she muttered, starting to pick her way cautiously through the mist. Hell of a lot of effort here being used on her - and they must have pulled it together in only a few hours, if they expected the padfoot to kill her yesterday. Fuck this shit.

Rivkah cringed, bending over and bringing her hands up to her ears at the roar. "Jesus fuck," she said. "Where to now?" she said quickly, straightening. She didn't ask what it was - she didn't think she wanted to know.

Rivkah swore as he left her with the golem, and she darted to the sides to press against the nearest wall.

She didn't want to duel that, so it looked like she'd be playing the sneaking game again. There wasn't any single shadow that'd take her past it, so she'd have to be tricky. The golem itself cast a pretty enormous shadow...

Rivkah took a breath and melded into the shadows, searching for a way around it.

Rivkah grimaced as the thing cast about, hugging the wall as she searched for shadows to travel in. There had to be a way she could avoid this fight...

She stepped forward, hopping through one shadow and exiting it in between some of the vines on the ground, and she leaped over the vines in front of her as quick as she could to the next shadow.

"That's not gonna work!" the boy called. "That corridor is filled with li--" A hideous roar erupted as one of the branches shook. "Here it comes! Flash it your chest! Maybe that'll distract it!"

"Son of a - " The thing turned, and Rivkah disappeared into the shadow beneath her, vanishing just in time before it struck. She breathed hard within the shadow, staring at the golem as it moved overhead.

The beast roared with fury, bounding over with a speed that seemed to defy its mass then leapt, turning into a giant landslide of dirt, wood and rock that crashed where she had been, shaking the ground with monster truck force and putting a crater into the area.

She winced as the dirt came crashing down, and Rivkah immediately backpedaled, exiting her shadow back where she started. She reached for another shadow and jumped up a level onto a balcony. So fucking much for that.

The boy clapped. "Excellent!" he said, trying to hide the relief he felt. "Thought for sure you were a pancake! You should be more careful! That thing's a beast!"

"That's why I was trying not to fight it," she snapped back. Well, now it knew she was here. "So much for that."

"And I told you that was unavoidable," he said mildly. "It's got feelers everywhere around here!" His face took on a thoughtful cast. "You definitely can't fight it head on. Maybe you could trick it...?"

"What, draw its fire and then run away or something?" she said, leaning on the balcony railing as the golem started to shift.

The large mound of dirt spun into a vortex and reformed into the giant beast as it reformed.

"I'd go back to silence, now," he said. "It can't hear me, after all. But you're on the right track." The beast cast around, letting out a howl of fury. "And I'd hurry, cause it has to be drawing people to this location after that last attack..."

Rivkah crouched on the balcony as the thing got back on its feet. Was the time it spent recovering long enough for her to sprint for the exit? Probably not with it right there...

She didn't really need to sprint though, did she? With a breath, she shadowwalked back down a level, crouching a moment before she stood up. "HEY CUNT," she hollered.

The boy grinned. "Such a colorful mouth. Seriously," he called, "have you ever been laid?! Want to be?"

The beast roared, stomping and turning in her direction as it locked onto her, becoming a living landslide.

Rivkah turned and sprinted away, jumping shadows when she ran into them and running as far back as she could manage I need to work out mooore, she thought, as she stopped and turned to face it.

She waited til it was nearly on her before disappearing into the shadow beneath her feet.

Poles and benches were sent flying or overturned by the force of this monstrous living avalanche. It slammed onto the spot she disappeared, causing the entire area to cave in.

"Holy shit, that thing wants you dead!" the boy said with a laugh as she reappeared. "Go!" A flash of recognition crossed over his face and he looked back. "And make it snappy!" he added with urgency.

Man he was invested. She was startled a moment by his urgency, but she soon took off, jumping shadows to the exit that now lay wide open.

She burst through the doors - sweet, sweet freedom - and almost threw her hands up in celebration. They may still have, what was it, snipers? No relaxing yet. She hugged the wall of the mall and started walking fast as she could away from the mall.

She would suddenly hear a scream from overhead and a man fall to the ground. Up on the roof, the boy stood with an innocent smile that was damning. "Oops!" he said.

She looked up quickly and smirked. Looks like he got the sniper for her. Rivkah gave the boy a small salute and kept walking. She was glad for his help and all... but she didn't want to stick around and find out why he did.

"You owe me a boob shot!" he called after her before disappearing.

As she walked, keeping her head down, she reached into her pocket to see she'd gotten a text some time during the chaos. Rivkah smiled and saved the number into contacts as The Silver Surfer. So at least now she had his phone.

She texted him back quickly. Watch out yourself. They're going hard. The question now was, where to?

She sent a quick text out to Dylan to casually ask what he was up to, making sure he was okay. Did she retreat now to the Coven? Her gut twisted at the thought, but she couldn't think of anywhere else. Damn.

She started for the nearest bus stop before she stopped herself. If they had no hesitation about attacking an entire mall, a crowded bus wasn't going to stop them either. She sent another text quickly to Dylan as she started to walk to the apartment. Don't freak out, but if I'm not back in an hour look for me.

"Son of a bitch," she growled, breaking out into a run and disappearing into the shadow of a building.

She dropped out around the corner, running to the next building and disappearing into the next shadow. She was starting to get tired of playing hide and seek like this.

God she was so pissed she still had to do this.

They eventually gave up on searching for her, and she found them parked a block away from her apartment complex. On second thought, don't go outside looking for me, she texted Dylan quickly and furiously.

She looked over at their car again from inside her shadow. Well, if they were going to be so kind as to wait for her...

Rivkah slowly began to smile, running back through the shadows to an alley several blocks away. They were going to regret hounding her.

Rivkah stood in an alley two blocks from her apartment complex, behind a dumpster in the shadows. She stood in the space between two nested circles - an 'innie' and an 'outie'. Containment circles were a branch of magic that was more extensive than one might think, given how many magical creatures witches had to deal with over time. The circle she stood within was an 'outward facing circle', or an outie - it kept people out but allowed anyone within to leave. This would keep her from being disturbed. The circle she stood outside, and which she planned to summon her demon in, was the 'inward facing circle' - keeping anything within it in, but allowing outside people and objects to enter.

Her runes she painted on the ground in chalk and reinforced with salt and ash - in the demon's circle she placed a lit candle - that should make sure the demon ended up in the right circle.

Rivkah took a breath, her cell phone in one hand and her spellbook in the other. Malaethanalot. The pronunciation would be rough, especially since she didn't really get much of an opportunity to practice. The true name and the creature were connected to each other, apparently, in a way she didn't quite understand. Saying it too often might cause the demon to cross over on its own and stop the speaker. It's what kids did when they played Bloody Mary - while not a true name, sometimes the creature that went by that name would show its face for shits and giggles.

Rivkah cleared her throat. No going back now. She opened her mouth and began to speak, chanting in an ancient, guttural demonic tongue.

"*Masters of the Void, I call across the Boundary seeking one of your own. With them, I seek an audience, and I will not be denied.*"

Was it just her imagination, or were the shadows growing darker? "*With their name I compel them to cross the Boundary using the bridge I have set. Malaethanalot.*" She stuttered as she saw the candle flame flicker, but kept going. "*Malaethanalot. Malaethanalot.*"

The candle blew out on her last syllable, and she stood there, watching smoke curl off the end of the candle lazily for a few moments. Aw fuck, she thought, as nothing happened, and she took a step back from the inner circle, ready to bolt if the demon appeared outside it...

The wind suddenly picked up, and Rivkah spat hair out of her mouth as he hair flew into her face. The wind, she realized, was coming from the center of the circle - as if someone had just opened a door and let the storm in. She squinted her eyes against the wind, seeing what seemed like a shadow starting to form in the air inside the circle.

The shadow thickened, gaining volume and shape and growing ever darker until she could no longer see through it. It formed a shape like winged humanoid - with a long head, clawed hands and feet, bony wings, and a thin, pointed tail. Suddenly it seemed to gain mass, and the shadow, which had been suspended in the air, hit the ground hard and stumbled, letting out a curse.

The shadows blackness peeled back like tissue paper, and Rivkah took a step back in surprise. This wasn't the demon she encountered last night, convincingly human - this was a milky white monster,, its limbs lanky, its wings translucent, and six eyes lined up on its long, narrow face.

It doubled over as it landed, hunched over on nearly all fours. She was surprised by how small it was - long and lanky as it was, it couldn't be much taller than her, and it was certainly skinnier. Is this really... what I was looking for? This thing was an imp, were imps just not able to blend in?

As Rivkah took a breath to speak, its head turned on a swivel and looked at her with six narrowed eyes. "What are you doing?" it snapped, its words halting and oddly accented. "How did you find my name?!"

Rivkah's face hardened. Don't show hesitation. Don't show weakness. "My methods are not yours to question," she started to say, and the demon darted up to the edge of the circle in an instant. It grazed its face on the circle, and she could see sparks fly off its chin from the impact. At least that works.

"There are millions of my kin," it hissed. "Billions. And of course, I'm the one who's name gets found." It spat on the ground on its feet. "What year is it?"

Rivkah sighed. "2015," she said, "now are you done bitching?"

She nearly twitched as it glared up at her again, and finally it gave a low, growling laugh. "Yes," it said. "Now, what do you want?"

"I have need of your strengths to... deal with, my enemies," she said stiffly.

Malaethanalot grinned slowly, its lips parting to reveal a mouth with too many teeth. "Go on."