Crystal and the Damned - Possession

The miasma of incense spiraling upward in thin streams through the young man’s shabby apartment was not completely successful in covering up the vague smell of mold. On the dirty linoleum floor the sparse remains of the evening lay scattered : a bottle of cheap wine, three-quarters empty, a scrap of pizza, a half-smoked joint in the ashtray full of cold cigarette butts.

At this late hour, however, the young man was no longer concerned with how his apartment looked. Sprawled in his bed on sheets soaked with the sticky pungency of sweat, he was in the process of screwing the hottest girl he’d ever had.

Sitting on top of him, Crystal stopped her movements for an instant to stroke his chest with her slender hands. He wanted to catch her eye but she carefully avoided them. It was just sex ; she didn’t want to share anything with him, she just wanted to get off. And that suited him just fine. With his cold hands, he kneaded his partner’s smooth, full breasts, then moved his hands down along her pale, silky skin and grabbed her supple waist to make her move again.

With a slight moan, Crystal went back to swaying softly, almost making him pull completely out of her each time she raised her pelvis.
Fuck, she’s too good….
He gasped, his eyes closed, mouth open, in a crude, obscene expression. The girl let her head roll on her slender shoulders, making her golden blond hair dance, and swayed faster, taking him more deeply into herself. She drew shocks of pleasure from him, and a flash of satisfaction passed through her deep blue eyes. Her lover might be screwing her, but she dominated him, too, in a way. The sexual control she exercised allowed her to forget that she was in bed with some mediocre, random guy that she did not love.

Crystal clenched his phallus in her depths and felt the bottom drop out of him. He caught her firm, round little ass and thrust into her faster and faster, and more briefly. She let it happen, disillusioned. He took her like a rabbit, seeking his pleasure without worrying about the orgasm that she would not have.

He came loudly, ejaculating into her womanhood in the same way he would have a blow-up doll. Repulsed, she waited just a few seconds for him to recover before jumping smoothly from the bed.

“Taking off already ?” he asked her in a disinterested voice, watching her put her clothes back on.

Crystal buttoned up her blouse and gave him a dignified look, hiding her distress.

“Exactly. I’m going home.”

He shrugged his shoulders when she slammed the front door of his apartment.

Once outside, Crystal heaved a sigh full of bitterness. One more lousy dude. He disgusted her. She disgusted herself. She did not know now why she had agreed to sleep with him. She had done that kind of thing too often lately. It was time to stop the one-night stands and look for someone serious. But for the time being there was just one thing she wanted : to get home quickly and take a shower to scrub away how dirty she felt.

Crystal tried to get her bearings. She must not be too far from home. Grumbling, she went through her purse and her coat pockets, finding only a few pieces of change. No cab, then. Oh well ; she would walk, the fresh air would do her good.

She left the building and turned toward her home. Crystal lived near the campus, where she was studying pre-law. It was the only thing that she really cared about in life. She had very few friends and her mother had remarried when she was fifteen. As for her father – that was another story ; he had
abandoned her at birth. Her mother always refused to elaborate on the subject. But at nineteen, the young woman thought that she had gotten over everything she had missed and all she had suffered through his absence.

As she moved briskly through the Seattle streets, she became aware of her absolute solitude. It was dark and she was alone, with no money and a dead cell phone battery.

She cast a worried glance around her, suddenly aware of her fragility. The ideal prey for a rapist or two.
Great ! As if the evening wasn’t a big enough disaster
. Crystal pulled her coat around her with a shiver. She would never make it back this way. Not in the middle of the night, not totally isolated.

A slight sound made her prick up her ears, but did not surprise her unduly. It was stupid to be wandering around the city at a time like this. She opted for caution. Stopping, she examined the end of the narrow street she had started down. Everything was dark. But she could distinguish a silhouette in the darkness, and guessed it was a woman.

The unknown woman was suddenly illuminated and her face, pale as death, seemed irradiated with evil clarity. Everything about her was black : her clothing, her hair, her lips and her eyes. Two gaping holes full of shadows.

Crystal tensed up and the woman smiled. Slowly. A crazy smile. Her pupils shone with a lethal fire. Crystal felt the beating in her arteries intensify under the nervous rush of blood.

With her smile fixed in place, the crazy woman lifted her arm to the level of her neck and slid a finger across her throat, simulating the sign of a head being cut off.

Her eyes open wide, Crystal started to choke. Her heels tripped over the rough pavement. Frightened, she retreated quickly and came face-to-face with three men dressed in black. She screamed. Her screams echoed in the solitude of the passage while the men advanced toward her to take her.

Hysterical, she swerved violently to the side, miraculously escaping them and, driven by an instinct to survive, started to run.

“Catch her,” the crazy woman barked.

But Crystal fled, the pounding of her steps echoing on the asphalt. Her assailants chased after her. In a panic, she started into the maze of streets, running faster than she had ever run before, running to save her life. She was sweating, her mouth distorted with dread, exhausted, in spite of the terror that pushed her on, faster and faster. Turning into an alley, she slammed violently into a wall but continued in spite of everything, adrenaline keeping her from feeling the pain. She no longer saw anything, nor did she understand anything,
but she felt death approach as the men gained ground on her.
Raped and killed.
Those words knocked around in her mind, a refrain of horror. The blade was coming closer.

She approached her home, recognizing the deserted streets. For a moment she thought she had the advantage over her executioners. Out of breath, she veered to the left and took refuge under a porch. Like a laboratory rat waiting for the experiment to begin, she curled up. She was alone, gripped by fear. In a sweat, her heart exploding in her chest and her throat dry, she clung to the wall and listened. The men had just reached the street. Crystal clenched her fists, tears in her eyes.
Oh my God, my God, my God.

She could hear them breathing, the rustling of their clothes, the clicking of the soles of their shoes. Her hand over her mouth, trembling, crying so hard she could no longer breathe, she tried not to think. Images, indescribable, rushed around in her brain : herself, savagely raped on the dirty stones. Screaming, her arms held down painfully, her skirt raised, her legs spread…. She bit her fist till it bled and slid down to the tiled ground. Her bottom hit the cold tiles and she prayed.
My God, my God, my God
. She realized, though, that she was no more than a block from her building. A burst of hope forced her to concentrate to keep her presence of mind.

But the men were inexorably coming closer ; they would find her.

“Where did that little bitch go ?”

“Shit, guys, the Prince is going to kill us if we don’t get her.”

With difficulty, Crystal swallowed and pushed herself deeper into the corner. She hoped.

Her eyes bulging with terror, she heard them stop right next to her, just in front of the entrance. The light from the streetlamps cast their shadows on the ground. One more step, just one more step and all they would have to do to find her is turn their heads. Clenching her jaw, she pulled her legs in, trying to make herself as small as possible. She held her breath ; one sound and they would be on her.

Suddenly she heard a noise, a slight snap. She flinched, then froze. The crazy woman’s voice cut through the silence. It seemed to the young woman that she had appeared out of nowhere.

“How could you lose the girl ? I’m warning you, you’ll be dead by dawn if we don’t nab her.”

One of the guys grumbled, but the woman made him quiet down. They discussed the business for a moment before deciding to retrace their steps, convinced that their prey had fled farther on.

Overcome by a new outburst of tears, Crystal felt her nerves go slack with relief. They were leaving ; they hadn’t seen her.
Saved.

She waited, still hunched over in the corner. The cold night air chilled her everywhere. Her legs were frozen. In her head she counted off five interminable minutes second by second. She had to be certain that they had really taken off.

Short of breath, she stood up clumsily, gripping the mail box with one frozen hand and carrying her purse in the other. Finally she dared to cast a glance into the street. It was empty. Crystal closed her eyes for an instant.
Thank you.
She opened them again and dashed forward with renewed courage. She slipped along the walls, trying to melt into their deep shadows. She ran until she was out of breath, not daring to look behind her for fear of seeing her pursuers appear. Finally she reached her building.
Safe, at home.
She would call the cops ; she would be safe and sound. Just one minute, and it would be fine.

She went into the entryway and threw herself at the door. She needed her keys.
Shit, the keys.
With an abrupt gesture she emptied her purse on the ground, on all fours on the tiled floor. She couldn’t find them.
This can’t be happening
.
Where are the damn keys
, she shouted to herself, casting an alarmed look outside. No one there, but….
Quick, quick, quick
. Once again nearly succumbing to hysteria, she turned her head every which way, desperately searching. She saw them, finally, under the radiator in the lobby. They must have slipped under when she emptied out her purse. If only she had been able to turn on the light, but it was better not to. Crystal lay down on the floor, scraping
her chin, and slid her hand under the radiator. Her fingers closed around the bunch of keys ; she heaved a sigh, her stomach unknotting. She got up and, without worrying about her purse, rushed to the lock, taking three tries to open it because her hand was shaking so badly.

In the dark, Crystal went in and closed the door, leaning against it for a moment in order to keep her legs from giving out. The elevator was familiar. Marvelously reassuring.
At home, in a safe place
. She had succeeded, she had gotten away.

She straightened up and walked to the elevator. She pressed the button to call it. Waiting for it, she tried to catch her breath.
Fuck, who were those people ? Why me ?

The machine descended slowly, its cogwheels making a dreary clacking sound. The girl leaned her forehead against the swinging door. She was in such a hurry to get back to the warmth of her apartment. She was not thinking any more ; her brain numb, she was stupefied by the tension that once more settled over her.

The elevator stopped. She stepped back slightly and, her hand still shaking, opened it.

One of the men. Bathed in black smoke.

The knife blade glittered.

Crystal screamed and threw herself backward. The doorknob of the entry rammed into her kidneys, tearing another scream from her. Pain and fear combined. An evil smile on his lips, the man moved forward in slow motion. She groped and grabbed the knob at the last minute. She opened the door, but in her panic, slid down and collapsed on the floor, shredding her clothing and tearing the skin on her forearms and knees. She yelled at the top of her lungs when the two other men appeared in turn, grabbed her under her arms and lifted her as easily as a toy.

“No ! No ! Help !”

“Shut your yap !” one of the men spit out, slapping her hard without bothering to aim.

The man in the elevator joined them and they dragged her outside. The crazy woman was there, feet planted in the street. The spirit of death.

“Finish her off. Kill her.”

“Please,” Crystal begged, suffocating. Her nose was bleeding, her cheeks and her right eye swollen. She had thought she was going to burst when the guy slapped her. Enough force to make her skull explode. Under her chin she felt the cold blade that the man from the elevator was holding. They were going to butcher her like a pig.

She gave an unbearable gurgle from her throat and thought that she was going to die when suddenly, a voice echoed :

“Let her go.”

Through a dark haze, Crystal raised her head at the same time as the others to see where the voice was coming from.

On the roof of one of the buildings opposite stood a statuesque light-skinned black woman. A leather jumpsuit hugged every curve of her well-muscled body. She was solidly planted on her legs, balanced several yards off the ground, her wavy auburn hair dancing around her, a dagger in each hand.

Beyond all ability to feel, Crystal saw the woman leap. Seeing her throw herself from the roof, she thought in an incoherent way that the woman wanted to kill herself.
She’s committing suicide.

Her heart skipped a beat. The creature had just landed on the sidewalk with the suppleness of a tiger. Immediately the crazy woman and the three men abandoned the girl to hurl themselves at this untimely apparition.

Crystal, apathetic, overcome by fear, was making one final effort in spite of everything to save herself when she felt two hands touch her shoulders. She whipped around and almost slammed into another woman. A life-sized Barbie doll, platinum blonde. Dollface caught her and held her firmly.

“Stay here, sweetie.”

Restrained in the fashion doll’s arms, she let her gaze fall on the fight which had begun between the incredible coffee-skinned woman and the psychos in black.

She felt ill. The female warrior slashed the throats of two of her attackers with her long daggers, and their heads fell to the ground as their bodies collapsed. The crazy woman and the last man took a stand. Not for long. Understanding that they were going to lose, the crazy woman fell back and mumbled something. Right before Crystal’s eyes, she vanished in a cloud of black smoke.
The smoke in the elevator
. She had disappeared.
By magic
. The young woman choked. The insanity of this scene shattered her.