<< Season Of The Witch - Lana Del Rey >>
Kaius knocked softly against the tattered wooden door of the dark hut. In response, a quiet scuffling came from within before it opened, just a small crack.
He saw a wrinkled, pale face with hooded black eyes of sharp obsidian, hidden behind deep purplish bags and a mess of grey and red hair piled high onto her head.
"Bugger off. I'm not interested." A rough, tired voice snapped at him immediately, before Kai could even open his mouth to speak, and the door was promptly slammed shut in his face.
He stared at it for a moment with his mouth hanging open.
"Oh hell no." He muttered under his breath, knocking again, louder this time when the anger flared up in his chest
He raised his voice to shout through the closed door, "I did not just live through a Demon poisoning, a fucking marsh full of Spectres hellbent on driving me insane and a creepy ass worm with teeth sucking at my blood like syrup for you to slam a door in my face! Open up you old hag! You're going to help me damnit!" He kicked at the door until it rattled in its frame.
Suddenly it flew open, and Kai, mid kick, stumbled forwards, pulling back just in time to avoid kicking the wizened old woman directly in her exposed shin.
She glared up at him, all hunched up 5 foot 3 inches of her thin frame crackling with frustration. Her skin appeared dehydrated and paper thin, hanging from her figure like her drab, brown dress hung from her shoulders, "By the Gods, if you kick my door again, I'll swap your legs with your arms." She snapped.
Kai blinked at her, "You can do that?"
The Witch sighed up at him, "No. Unfortunately..." Her black eyes flashed, roaming over his body for a long moment and Kai felt the strange sensation he often did when Rameses did the same, as though she were looking through him or seeing more than just his physical body, "Who are you and what do you want?" She asked, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
He repressed the urge to shudder at her scrutiny and made his best attempt at a polite and respectful tone, "Kaius Seraphall - ma'am. The Fate guided me here, she said you could help me contact an Angel...I think his name was Uri something..." Kai trailed off.
The Witch, Demetra, raised a thin eyebrow and tutted under her breath, "Ma'am now, huh? I thought I was an 'old hag'."
He grinned sheepishly back at her, "Sorry about that. I've had a crappy journey, I think I pissed off the God of Travellers somewhere along the way and she's been on my arse for - well, I'm not sure how long now." He sighed.
She smirked then, her thin lips quirking up in amusement as she stepped aside for him to enter, "Hermissa is a prideful bitch sometimes." She chuckled, ushering him inside.
Kai stilled for a moment at the unfamiliar name, 'Did this hag just refer to a God as if they were on a first name basis?'
He shook his head in dismissal at the unlikely assumption and crossed the threshold.
Demetra's hut was a far cry from the one that he had just left. Where Neave's living space was bright and clean with hanging herbs, soft sheets and a pleasant roaring fire, Demetra's was more akin to a dark, gloomy cell with a distinctly musky scent hanging in the air.
She had placed thin bars on the windows, the hearth was nothing but simmering embers that provided little warmth or light in the dusty gloom and the entire space was cluttered.
It was also far smaller, or perhaps it only appeared so due to the jumbled chaotic mess of books, pots and a seemingly random assortment of vials, some empty and some filled with liquids that Kai did not wish to enquire into. One in particular looked suspiciously like dark, fetid blood, the kind that spilled from a Demon.
And sitting atop a pile of dusty old books sat a curious creature.
It was quietly washing its small, furry paw, the only hair on its body except for a large tuft atop each pointed ear. Its face was distinctly feline but with a curious hide of scales covering its torso. They appeared black at first, but when Kai peered a little closer, they shimmered with shades of emerald, amethyst and sapphire under the dim light.
'It's weirdly cute.' Kai thought.
The feline-esque creature did not appear hostile and was distinctly ignoring Kai's presence, until he raised his hand in an attempt to stroke the back of its dark scaly hide.
Before his fingers could reach, the feline paused in the act of brushing its paw across its pointed face and cocked its head to the side as if it were about to turn towards him, and then a surprisingly strong hand snatched his wrist in a vice-like grip.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Demetra warned, before reaching out herself and scratching it behind the ears with familiarity. It let out a quiet mewing sound before returning to its act of washing, its abnormally large eyes, closed.
"Why? Does it bite?" Kai asked, watching the creature curiously.
Demetra shook her head, "No. She is an Ikett, her name is Basttet. She won't bite but if she takes an interest, then she might just look you in the eyes." She grinned, something dark and mischievous stirring behind her onyx irises.
Kai frowned, "Why does that matter?"
"Ikett's are known as heralds of death. If they catch you in their gaze, you will see the moment of your death."
He flinched back then and Demetra laughed, rough and hollow, "Why the hell would you keep something like that as a pet?" He asked, incredulously.
Demetra simply shrugged, "They're just misunderstood. They only show you an image of what may happen, whether it does or not is down to the person who sees it. They can either choose to accept their fate or do what they can to avoid whatever circumstances surround it. But some, in doing so, ultimately cause that very event to happen, and then they blame the Ikett. 'It caused this. I wouldn't have died if it hadn't shown me.' That sort of thing." She tutted under her breath and scratched the scaled creature under the chin as it let out a low, contented purr.
"It isn't fair. They can't help what they are and if you're stupid enough to barrel straight into your own death flag then that's your problem. I keep her here for protection from humans. Some of your kind like to hunt them down." Her gaze flicked up to Kai's face, her sharp, dark eyes accusatory and edged with spite, "Humans have a penchant for destroying things that they don't understand."
Kai grimaced but otherwise did not disagree or object to her not so favourable opinion of his species.
"Don't worry, I didn't come here to send your scaly death omen into extinction." He rubbed at his face tiredly, "Katesch said you could help me. I need to speak with -"
"Uriel." Demetra interrupted him with a wave of her hand, "Yes, yes, I understood you the first time."
Kai snapped his mouth shut, repressing the urge to retort. He wasn't used to being spoken to with this level of blunt rudeness and a vein started twitching at his temple in annoyance.
"First. I would like to know where your years came from. I refuse to trade with tainted lifespans and you have an exorbitantly long life for a human. It is unnatural." She leered at him, her eyes narrowed and her arms folded across the front of her drab, brown smock.
"That was Katesch too. She told me she was giving me time, something to trade with you so I wouldn't have to use my own years I suppose." Kai explained.
Demetra raised her eyebrow again, "I need fifty years for what you are asking. She has given you ten times that amount. Why?"
Kai's eyes widened in shock at her words.
To begin with, he was unaware that a Witch could pinpoint the amount of remaining years that a human had left to live with that level of accuracy. And second...five hundred years?
"...Katesch. What the ever loving fuck?" Kai groaned, dragging his hand over his face in agitation.
What was he meant to do with that? If this Angel was able to assist him in taking out that damned Demon, then what? What was he meant to do for another four hundred and fifty years? Everybody he knew now would be dead and buried, his family included. Kai would be alone.
Demetra smirked at him, "You didn't know? Well...oops. I didn't intend to send you into an existential crisis." She turned away, distinctly unbothered by Kai's spiral, and began to search through her haphazard clutter of belongings, "If you want I can take a few more and get rid of your other problem too?" She asked.
Kai, who had been in the middle of crouching down on the floor with his head in his hands, snapped up, "Excuse me? Other problem. What other problem?".
Demetra turned back, a crooked branch of white birch in her wrinkled hand and scoffed at him, "You're pretty clueless for a human. Did you not notice that you had an Epi attached to you?"
He blinked at her, a blank expression on his face and Demetra sighed, "An Epi. It's a spirit that attaches itself to people with - unfavourable memories. They simultaneously cause and feed from your nightmares."
Kai gaped at her, utterly shell shocked at the casual way in which she had just revealed to him why he had been so persistently plagued by those damn dreams; over and over, like a relentless curse.
How long had this thing been following him?
**