“My Name is Chaos”; Chapter Thirteen Part One

And the story continues on! For anyone who’s wondering, my life has been pretty good lately. I’ve been working on myself, reading, and knitting up a storm. I’m surprised that I’m back to writing this story, but I feel like I just can’t leave it be! So here, enjoy!

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I reached home with a sense of accomplishment that I didn’t want to acknowledge. I told myself it was nothing though I clearly knew it wasn’t. I told myself that my life was about to go back to normal, and prepared to pretend like none of it had happened. Except it obviously wasn’t.

“Where have you been?” asked father gently as soon as I stepped in the door.

I paused, one foot still outside in the portal-esque domain between domains. Behind father stood several large, beefy angels with their angry faces on.

“Am I in trouble?” I asked, wondering if I could outrun angels. Probably not. So I stepped fully in and shut the door behind myself.

“Of course not,” said mother icily, glaring around at the angels as if to cow them into silence. But mother, the angel of life where father was the angel of death, just didn’t have that power. People tended not to take her seriously, much to their later regret.

“We need to talk with you,” said the heaviest of the angels, crossing his arms over his chest. “And you just so happen to have woken up. Where were you?”

I instinctively pocketed my hands in search of my dice. But no, I’d lost that in the realm of the incarnates. “I uh,” I looked down at my shoes. “To tell you the truth,” I shrugged. “I went to see the vampires. Okay? And then they all woke up.”

The angels nodded. “So you woke up first.”

Uh? I blinked, looking back up. “I guess?”

The angels watched me mercilessly. “What woke you up?”

“This isn’t an interrogation!” barked mother. “He just woke up-”

“No it’s okay,” I mumbled. Feeling guilty? Maybe. “I just – woke up. And I had this urge to go walk, so I did. I felt better, you know? I feel – fine. I feel fine.”

The angels were wearing big frowns. They looked down at me like I was a sorry little scrub. Father rattled his throat. “We should all sit down for some tea. Explain some things to Chaos.”

“Yeah!” I said, suddenly bolted full of energy. “I’d like that!” And for a moment, I wasn’t sure why. Then I ignored why.

The angels scowled, but loosened up. We all crowded around a living room table, the angels looking ridiculous around our family’s mishmash of dainty doilies and dragon scultpures.

“So,” said the biggest angel as soon as we were all seated, the kettle set on the oven. “Al sent us a message that all things weren’t well while you were on mission. Then once she was shot, it was decided that you were probably being held hostage, and the rescue mission was sent – which is what happened.”

My gut twisted but I tried not to let my guilt show. They had thought I was hostage? Well- was I? I propped my chin on my palm and planted my elbows on the table.

“Who was she?” asked the angel.

Again, father cleared his throat. Mother glared at the angel. I blanked. “Who?”

“The woman who shot herself. Who was holding you hostage. Who you seemed very upset about.”

“Oh,” I ducked my head, trying to ignore the grisly image in my head. The m oment the light went out in Bella’s eyes. “Uh, well she had a name but that’s all I knew,” I said gingerly.

“What was the name?” asked the angel impatiently.

“Bella,” I mumbled, my voice croaking. “It – was after the human novel character. Twilight. You know?”

The angel nodded. Then puzzlement crossed his face. “Bella? After that character? How odd.”

“I know,” I mumbled. “She was really odd.”

“Which pantheon?” The angel continued with his investigative drill. “We haven’t heard of any demons missing from any pantheons yet.”

“She wasn’t a demon!” I barked suddenly.

The table hushed. The angels watched me. Oops. I slumped in my chair. Fiddled with a doily. “She had a blue eye. She must have been part sky realm, at least,” I mumbled, feeling guilty. They were just trying to investigate. Just trying to pierce the mystery of Bella.

I pushed the doily away. “Uh, she liked Buddha. She,” I gestured to my neck. “Wore one, and had them everywhere. Buddhas.”

The angels frowned. The big one steepled his fingers before himself. “Which one? Guan yin? Amidha? This could be important clues to which pantheon-”

“How am I to know?” I snapped, temper flaring again. “It was a Buddha! They all look the fucking same!”

Again, a pause. Again, I was swamped by guilt. “I think it was ‘the’ Buddha.” I grumbled, dropping my eyes to the table. “There was only two arms and,” I imitated the gesture. “Touching the earth and hand up.”

There was a lengthy pause. I didn’t look up.

“And?” father said gently. “What does that tell you?”

I glanced up. The angels were all glaring at me with big frowns.

“It tells us nothing,” snapped the angel in charge. “The demons Buddha defeated with that gesture were hundreds. All the demons of temptation- we can’t hunt them all down!”

I twiddled with my hair. But father nodded serenely. “And?”

The angels turned their ire to him. “And now, we have a new rebellion on our hands.”

“Rebellion?” I perked up.

All heads turned to me. “What rebellion?” I asked bluntly. “They’re all caught- aren’t they?”

“Not all,” muttered the head angel fiercely. “We have most of them in their cells, waiting to detox them from whatever poison that was slipped into them – but there were humans who were contaminated.”

I blanched, remembering the ecstatic séance in the church. A contamination? By what?

“Those humans are left in the incarnate realm and, as such, we cannot touch them. The military has taken them into custody and is studying them as we speak but -” the angel shrugged. “They don’t seem to be holding them for long. They will release them soon, and the contamination might spread.”

“Spread? What – It’s a virus?” I looked around.

The angel pressed his steepled fingers together so much the tips of his fingers were white. “Spiritually, yes. These humans – and all who came into contact with this being – seem to be possessed by strange beliefs. They are praying, believing, and by doing so are warping the fabric of the spiritual world. It was nothing but a blip at first, but since her death it has grown.”

Oh, shit. Because that’s how things worked in the spirit realm, directly influenced by the beliefs and truths on earth.

“So if this spreads,” the angel said darkly. “She will gain according power and dominion over the realms. Which could be disastrous, judging by her mental state.”

I dropped my eyes to the table again. Oh crap indeed. Bella – bella had started a new religion with herself at the center. She was not only promoting herself to deity-hood to claim certain power in the air realm, but she wanted to break into Nirvana and steal that sanctuary as well. And if she controlled the earth realm’s demons… She was going to control the three spirit realms.

“My Name is Chaos”: Chapter Seven, Part One

Not to be a pain buuuut – I’m really loving this story now! It’s super interesting to me, and I just want to keep writing it and writing! I’m so excited to explore Bella and what she’s up to! I’d love to hear some feedback on her, and especially what happens in the chapel here. Let me know what y’all think! I hope you’re having a nice day 🙂

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Speaking of cold, it was cold. Very cold. Icy cold. Freeze-in-your-nostrils kind of cold. Mist up and freeze on your face cold. And there Bella was, wearing a bomber jacket styled winter coat, jeans (with zippers and chains on the side!) and a black wool hat. She had a large smile on, as if she just couldn’t get enough of this white crap everywhere as we walked down the road. Ugh. Also, she was wearing an eye patch to cover her red eye. I was wondering why she was wearing the stupid eye patch when she began talking.

“Your friend Mark tried to run away last night,” she said so happily that I almost didn’t understand the meaning of her words.

“He what?”

She turned that simple smile to me. It looked so pure. It felt pure, like she didn’t have a bone of malice in her body. “Oh, he’s been restrained so he won’t hurt himself,” she said sweetly. “Don’t worry.”

“Hurt himself?” I echoed, almost stopping in my tracks. What was that evil-person code for? Were they torturing him?

“Oh, he was very distraught,” she said before heaving a sigh. “It’s unfortunate.”

“What’s unfortunate? What have you done with him?” I tried to run up before her but she held out an arm, winding me in the face as I tried to pass here. I doubled over, clutching at my poor nose. There were snorts of derision from the troupe of vampires around us. When I looked up, Bella had come to a stop next to some funny looking machines that were parked where the road was supposed to be. Were they motorcycles? Except they had skis on them…

“Skidoos,” she said as if reading my mind. “I guess they don’t have them in hell, do they?” and she plucked a helmet from one and handed it to me. “Watch your nose.”

I took the helmet from her, glaring barbs her way. I had half a mind to just unleash my powers and beat her to a pulp. But then I’d have to fight all her dumb minions and find the portal on my own. Hopefully this way she would lead me straight to it.

“Now you can ride with Mcfarlan,” she said, gesturing to the beefcake-in-charge from yesterday, who was popping his little head into his own helmet.

Grimly, I stalked over to him. He climbed onto the skidoo behind her majesty’s, and I followed suit. Disgusted, I took hold of the back of Mcwhatever’s jacket and hoped not to fall off. I’d been allowed to ride a motorcycle in hell, but it had been tricked so as not to bust speed limits. Like, you now you’re in hell when there’s speed limits on everything. Betcha there’s none of those in heaven.

We took off. Zooming through the city at daytime (without white crap in your face) was a totally different experience. The houses were bright and quaint around here, quickly giving way to shops and malls – and not a single car.

Well, there was over a foot of snow everywhere. Where would the cars go?

Instead there was other skidoos here and there, quickly switching to drive next to us, but always behind Bella. Pretty soon, I looked around and we were leading a whole flock of skidoos. The sound was such a racket. I wondered what the hell was going on. Was I about to be mobbed to death? A public execution of sorts? Was I breakfast for the starving hordes?

We drove up to a chapel. There Bella skidded to a halt, and the entire horde followed suit. I gawked at the number of vampires present. If it was a buffet, there certainly wasn’t enough blood in me to fill up everyone.

No, if this was her legions, then hell was empty of vampires right now. Because seriously, vampires have always been a protected species (don’t laugh) but there was so many right here.

The massive chapel was bursting full of them. They shrieked and squealed with joy as Bella came in, parting for her like the proverbial Red Sea, if the Red sea had still desperately wanted to touch Moses.

Arms were waving towards her. Babies were held out. The air was frenzied, frantic. The crowd closed right after her, blocking us from following her. Mcsomethingorother grabbed me by the shoulders and held me against him to keep me from getting torn from him by the crowd’s movement.

And that’s when it struck me. This was no army. There was no discipline, no ranks. Everyone was wearing civilian clothes and – I looked around at the screaming mouths to be sure. These were humans. We were actually a tiny patch of vampires, in a swathe of humans.

“Friends,” coeed Bella from the spot where the priest was supposed to be. The crowd silenced instantly. You could have heard a pin drop.

Faintly, someone began sobbing. Bella smiled sweetly in that direction. She had her hands on the book reading thing, and was poised to give a speech. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was really curious what she was going to say. Talk about herself as the savior of humanity or what? Vampires came in peace?

Bella began to speak. At first I thought I couldn’t hear her because she was mumbling. But then I realized there really was no sound coming from her mouth. Except I felt it inside. A strange feeling of peace invaded me. Words that made no sense began popping into my head, from some sort of angelic language. Enochian?

The crowd began to sway. I felt dizzy. The big hands on my shoulders held me steady as around us the world began to careen. The words began to hammer through me and I felt that feeling of peace intensify. Bella was walking forward towards the pews, moving her hands as if directing a chorus. The words pulsed through me and I knew I shouldn’t know them, but they took on meaning for me.

What meaning? I couldn’t put it into words. My body was numb and I was swaying back and forth with the crowd. The air pulsed around us. My eyes felt heavy and the light hurt.

The silent words began coming faster, rhythmically more and more intense. The meaning was overwhelming. It was something about peace and peace, but in such a way that… I don’t know.

Faintly, I heard sobs from the other side of the chapel. Nothing in me was disturbed. Iu knew they weren’t in danger, that nothing was in danger in this peace.

And then I cracked open. There was no other way to explain it.

It was if all of a sudden I’d broken beyond the limits of my body, of my own soul. I was no longer just me, a soul amongst so many. I could feel them, touch them. Ecstacy shone through me like a white light that radiated from within and I felt oneness with everything, everyone in this place. I could feel the energy on a different, more pure level than before. I was powerful enough to control the universe. I was beyond my own limits of existence. I could, I could –

I must have passed out. Because the last thing I remember was that pure, unbridled ecstacy. Then the next thing I knew, a voice was calling me.

“Chaos, Chaos,” a sweet voice was saying.

I felt my body being shaken, but it didn’t seem to fit me anymore. It felt foreign, like a dirty old sock you had to put on.

“Chaos,” and I recognized it as Bella. Bella! My heart thudded at the thought of her. Curiosity is what I told myself it was. In fact it was love. Adoration. Something in me craved her, because she was ecstacy.

I forced my eyes open, coming into my body and fitting into it dingily. Before me, Bella was grinning. She was patting my cheeks. At the sight of her, my soul flipped. Bella! My hand reached out and snatched at her, a strangled cry in my throat.

“Shhh,” she caught my hand and pressed it to her shoulder. My breath came ragged as emotions flooded me like a chemical rush. I knew that if only she willed it, I’d be back in that state-

“It’s alright. Stay with me,” she was saying gently and my mind had no choice but to focus on her words. I wanted them so bad. “You went under deep, didn’t you?”

I released a ragged breath. Somewhere, alarm bells were ringing in my head, but I had no idea what was happening. I’d never heard of anything like this. All there was was this feeling, and Bella. She who was taking my hand in both of hers now and squeezing it tightly while giving me such a comforting smile. “You’re okay,” she said in that sweet tone.

I gulped air. My body didn’t want to stay like this. I was like an addict needing another rush, craving it. But as Bella squeezed my hand and I looked into her blue blue eye, the burning need began to subside.

“There,” she said. “there you go. Come on, sit up.”

I was lying on a church pew. There were a few stragglign humans here and there, but the church was now fairly empty. The big beefy dude was standing beside me, glowering down smugly.

Gingerly, I managed to sit up. I wanted to barf. I was sweaty, clammy. Bella crouched before me, grinning wildly now. “So?” she asked eagerly, like we were sharing a secret. “Are we that bad?”

I took another look around. I told myself to take my hand from hers, but couldn’t. I liked her touch. I swallowed, my mouth now dry. “What happened?”

Bella patted my hand. “Secret!” And she drew up to a standing position. “Come on.”

“My Name is Chaos”: Chapter Six, Part Two

I wanted to just leave the room, but hey. Instead I was… announced out? There’s just no way to describe how I was marched to the door with a hand on my shoulder, and the door was dramatically flung open so it slammed upon the opposite wall and all. The vampires who were standing around the door jumped and spun.

Bella lifted her chin at them like she was the most important thing in the world. No, she radiated it. Then, she crooned. “Namastay,” while designating me with the tips of her fingers as if I was a crystal ball that shouldn’t be touched. “Put our guest up for the night. Find her some clothes and -” she seemed to lose track of her own thoughts. “All that,” she finished, eyes drifting off to the ceiling.

The vampires bowed, echoing ‘namastay’. I took a breath and looked over my shoulder at Bella. She had a smile on (did she ever not smile?) and was obviously in dreamland.

The vampires remained in their bow. They were waiting for something. I wondered what the hell was going on.

“I have had a vision,” whispered Bella, entranced.

“Yes,” said the beefcake, looking up but remaining in his bow.

“I-,” Bella brought her fingertips to her forehead dramatically. “I-,” and she froze in that position.

“Need help?” I asked dryly, hoping she would end with the dramatics. But she didn’t answer. Everyone else glared at me.

Bella began breathing deeply. “I see,” she crooned, swaying back and forth on her feet. “I see-” and she opened her eyes. Her strange smile returned. “Have a good night, everyone.” She patted me on the shoulder. “Don’t get into mischief.”

And with a clap, she shut her door. The vampires rose from their bows. I looked from the shut door to them. Gingerly, I pointed a thumb over my shoulder at the door. “Is she always like that?”

“Our Queen has been gifted with visionary powers unlike any other,” intoned my beefcake. “Don’t make light of them.” Or we’ll beat you to a pulp.

I nodded, stuffing my hands in my pockets. “Oh,” as if I hadn’t already understood that.

Beefcake clapped a heavy hand on my shoulder, then another. “This way,” he grunted, physically maneouvering me towards the stairs. I let him, grinding my teeth at the treatment.

Downstairs, Mark and Leo were waiting nervously. I could see why. The other vampires were surrounding them, sharpening their knives, hungry eyes fairly devouring my friends.

“They’re to be put up for the night,” grunted the beefcake in charge. I was shoved to the center of the waiting room beside Leo. “Find them rooms.”

Groaning, various vampires pulled out cellphones and began texting. Those that had accompanied me upstairs just stood there and glared imposingly at me. I put my hands in my pockets and looked around at the décor.

After a moment of doing that, I cleared my throat. “So,” I turned to Mr beefymcbeef. “Bella-”

“Our Queen,” he intoned. “Is not to be called by her name alone. Show some respect.”

“Oh, yes, no disrespect intended,” wouldn’t want to insult the nutbag. “Uhm,” I tried to formulate my words into a proper question, but all that came to mind was ‘Twilight? Really?’. So I blurted out whatever came next to mind. “Where’s she from?”

There was a universal snort, even from the ones on the cellphones. Mr Beefcake glared at me.

I waited a moment before admitting that they weren’t going to answer. “Why?” I asked loudly. “Is she some sort of secret?”

“We don’t discuss our Queen with strangers,” one on a cellphone said loudly, only to be shushed by others.

“They’re not worth it,” muttered another.

I flopped down onto an armrest beside a vampire. She hissed at me, baring her fangs. I hissed back. That baffled her.

“Found one for the kid,” said a scrawny vampire, handing the cellphone to my beef-in-charge.

“Good,” the beef took the cellphone, then handed it back. Nodding at me he said “This way.”

We paused for him to put his coat on, and then we trooped out into the snow. It was a full-on snowstorm now, snow flurries whacking me in the face and making me blink uncontrollably. I could barely see a thing, and felt stupid as I trudged along behind the hulking vampire.

I was taken to a neighboring building where a quaint-looking family greeted us with very toothy smiles, all vampires, even the little toddler in their arms.

“So pleased to be of service to our Queen,” they cooed as we were let in.

Mumble mumble, went the beefcake, taking the mother aside and muttering something to her. I was led by the father to a guest’s room.

It was all very quaint. Nicely painted, with ruffles and ribbons on things. Barf.

Then, as I was looking at the ruffles and ribbons all around this room, the door was drawn shut behind me.

I stayed in that room all night, sleeping lightly and generally being frustrated. There was no window to escape from, and I didn’t want to just bust out and get caught sneaking around. What was I going to find in this house anyways?

The next morning, at no particular time that I could decipher, I was woken up by the mother.

“Darling,” she cooed as she pushed the door open. “It’s time to wake up.”

I sat up grudgingly. I was no one’s darling! I was about to give her a mouthful of my opinion when I saw that she was carrying clothes for me. Fresh clothes!

Mercifully, they weren’t pink and purple or something hideous like that. No, they were black with … ‘visitor’ spray painted on it in white. Really? Really?

I put the t-shirt on, thinking that, really, it couldn’t have gotten any cornier. The cargo pants fit as well with a belt and mercifully they didn’t have ‘visitor’ spray painted on the ass or something dumb like that.

Trudging out of the room, I was greeted with – Bella herself standing there with a troupe of vampires. The family that had ‘hosted’ me looked ecstatic out of their minds, starry eyes staring adoringly at Bella. Bella who turned her smile to me.

“Namastay,” she crooned. “You’re awake.”

I glanced to a window and saw that it was still dark out. “Morning?” I guessed?

“We need to get a start on your day if you’re to see everything,” Bella crooned as she waved me over. “Hurry, hurry, we haven’t got all day.”

Frowning, I let myself be ushered out the door into the cold and dark – with Mark’s coat on. Fuck, no one was ushering me out without a coat on. Not in this cold.

“My Name is Chaos”: Chapter Six, Part One

Ahhh, I love this section. I really get into characters like Bella. They’re what I feel I do best. To me, they’re both relatable in their passion and sympathy and their flawed nature, as well as slightly terrifying on the flip side.

And, to surprise myself, I did a pencil and paper drawing instead of on the computer, and I like it much better! Maybe I’ll just give up on computer drawings for a little while. I’m not sure why, but I’m so much more impatient on computer colouring.

Anyways, enjoy! For all those who are wondering whether I’ll ever get back to mental illness topics, yes I will!  I just love fiction writing, haha. Is there any topics you’d like me to discuss about mental illness? Let me know!

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We entered a room that was large and somberly lit. Like the rest of the house it was all polished wood and paneling with a chandelier lighting it. Against one wall sat an upright piano. A fireplace crackled against the other wall. And there, in a deep comfy oldsie-styled chair, was a figure.

I wanted her clothes. There was buckles on the turtle neck collar, on the sides of a slightly corset-styled waist, down the sides of her jeans, and on the sides of her knee high boots.

When she turned her face to us, I forgot about her clothes though. First things first → she had the same haircut as Al. Really? Chin-length hair, minus the bangs. Except her hair was light reddish chestnut brown instead of jet black.

Second. I nearly jumped out of my skin, I was so shocked. She had one red eye (left) and one blue eye (right, obviously. What, did you think she had three eyes?). It was the mark of a Nephilim, one of both angelic and demonic descent.

“Hi,” I said, lifting a hand. Whack! The big beefcake smacked me on the back of the head with a hand and lowered my hand with another.

The madam/mistress/boss in charge of it all smirked. “Let her be,” she said condescendingly. She waved a hand at us. “Actually, you can all leave. The kid can stay.”

“But! Madam!”

She snapped her fingers in the air. “No buts! Go.”

The entire troupe of vampires bowed and crowed together “Namastay,” in varying varieties of pronounciations.

I blinked and turned to stare at them. Had I heard that right? But they were all filing out, glaring at me before shutting the door behind them.

I turned to her. The madam. She was still smirking while watching me. Elbows propped on the armrest, she flicked her fingers at me. “Come,” she said. “Draw up a chair. Namastay, by the way. Feel welcome.”

Nama-what? I blinked, wondering which pantheon she was from. From the skin tone, she should be something western. She was pretty pale, Irish maybe? But that namastay-

“I said,” she barked. I jumped out of my thoughts into a terrifying moment. Her red eye was gleaming and shivers crawled over my skin. “Pull up a fucking chair.”

I pulled up a fucking chair. Right to where she was pointing. Then I sat down in it. It was really comfy. Decadently so, but it didn’t help me relax one bit. No, really, she reminded me of my relatives. Or really, anyone of rank in Hell. Maybe a little archangel in her too? Who knew?

All bad mood vanished, she smiled sweetly at me again. “Namastay,” she crooned. “Good to meet you.”

“You know me?” I asked, ego inflating a little. Yeah! I was known! A smile crept over me.

“Not at all. Couldn’t place you in a crowd. But,” she flicked her fingers upwards. “I’m sure we’ll get to know each other well.”

I deflated somewhat. Oh, yeah. Well, not everyone knew the Grim Reaper had children, but uh… I tried to refocus myself. “So uh, who are you?”

“Direct,” she crooned. “I like that. Simplicity is a virtue.” And her eyes swept over to an immense painting that was draped in curtains. It was vintage- or not. It was a giant buddha, one hand in his lap and the other touching the earth. The gesture meant something, but I couldn’t guess what. It was serene, made to look like a vintage photograph.

Her fingers propped her chin, almost caressing herself. They were spindly thin, her fingers. In fact, beneath the cut of her clothing, she was bone thin. Almost unhealthily so. “I am a human,” she said softly. A direct lie if my eyes were telling me anything. “And that is how I interact with this world.”

“But you,” I pointed to my own eyes. “You’re nephilim.”

She smiled at that painting. “To the Buddha, we are all suffering, all in need of salvation.”

I glanced again at the painting. So serene. I looked back at her, who seemed wholly entranced by it. Our eyes connected and she smiled as if she pitied me.

“Buddhism is the ultimation of humans. All other things have been handed down from deities, spawning their will in this world. But Buddha,” she gestured to the painting. “Was human.” And her eyes lit up. “I love humans,” and her voice dropped to a whisper. “I’m going to save them.”

“Yeah okay, so you’re going to build a temple or what?”

“I’m going to save everyone,” she crooned, both eyes fairly glowing.

I fidgeted. Something about her seemed unhinged. Just a little. “Uhm, okay.”

She point-blank interrupted me with a clap of the hands. “We have a non-believer in the room!” And she smiled nastily at me. “You don’t care about the Buddha, do you?”

I smiled half-heartedly. “That’s not what I’m here for-”

“The Buddha would say that you,” and she pointed a finger between my eyes. “Are lost in the swamps of delusion.”

Yeahhhh, okay. I hadn’t met a preacher since visiting a lower level of hell, and hey, this sounded similar. “Uhm,”

“We’re all suffering,” she crooned at me. “We’re all in this together.” and she reached out and took one of my hands in both of hers. “Don’t you see that? Don’t you feel the pain, hear the screams of the world? It’s alive, we all are.”

And you, are a nutbag. I wiggled my fingers in her grasp. “Uhm,” I cleared my throat and ducked my eyes from her overly sympathetic glare. “What’s your name?”

She released me with one hand and snatched up a book from her handtable. “Bella,” she said with passion. “I am Bella.”

Twilight. That’s what she was holding. Twi-light.

She held the book out to me, voice riddled with passion. “This was my past life – I,” and she seemed lost for words. “You must understand past lives. Don’t you?” And then she laughed and looked at the book. “It is impressive, how easily humans write up the lives of others. Don’t you think?”

I think you’re off your rocker. But I smiled and nodded. That satisfied her. She set the book down. The hand that still held me caressed me with a thumb. She looked down at our joined hands. “And you, dear child, what is your name?”

“Chaos,” I said proudly.

“Chaos,” she nodded with a hum. “What a lovely name.” her eyes sparkled sincerely at me as she clasped my hand in both of hers. “I hope we can be good friends, Chaos.”

Yeah, no. But I nodded and forced a smile. “Yeah.” Alright, I wanted my hand back. I tugged, and she gave way. She held her hands to her chest, pressing against her heart while she beamed at me. “My heart is happy at your name,” she whispered. “I feel we shall be good friends.”

O-kay. Alright. “Yeah, uhm,”

“Are you tired? Hungry?”

“No, actually, I -” and I hesitated. How to approach this? Suddenly I felt the emptiness of my lack of a plan.

“Yes?” she asked sweetly.

I totally segwayed off to the side, so to speak. Let her keep talking while I figured out what I needed from her. “How did you get here? You’re not a vampire?” I gestured at the door. “And yet – you’re not their juicebox.”

She tossed her head back and laughed heartily. That took a minute. Then, brushing a tear from her red eye, she laughed at me once more. “Oh, you’re funny too! Oh, I like you.”

Uh. I almost yelped and jumped back, she took my hand in hers again so suddenly, snatching it from me to squeeze it passionately. “If only you could understand what we are trying to do,” she whispered. “But you -” and a finger waved at my third eye. “are not yet awakened.”

Okay, now I was curious. “Not yet what?”

But she shook her head, grinning. “You don’t need to know. You’re here for your lost minion, yes? Stay a while. Stay with us,” and she patted my hand and let go before kicking back in her chair and gesturing. “Maybe we’re not that strange to you. Maybe you’d like to join us.”

Excellent! “I’d love to stick around,” and snoop in all the corners and find your portal. Which she hadn’t yet mentioned, by the way, which was strange for a preacher-esque nut. Usually they went on and on about their evil plans. But she just cooed and clasped her hands beneath her chin and had hearts fairly bubbling from her eyes as she looked at me. “Our souls are attuning,” she said. “The desire to stay is just the beginning, my dear.”

Uh, yeah no.