Witch

An evil witch takes over a small Northern Michigan town to try and find the Gates of Hell. She enlists the help of a wizard, a vampire, and a Karayan to help her. It is up to the Guardian and a small band of people to fight against her, and her army of darkness.

Lily stood in her basement in the middle of her magical circle. She wove her incantations of power with the greatest of care, yet her furor at the five who still stood in her way was untrammeled. She despised them. Furious, she cast a spell over the whole town, a blackness that would not let them leave.

She called on the powers of the Qlippoth to power it. The Dead Light forces of the Shadow Self swirled around her. Fallen Angelics hierarchies and the Satanic and Luciferian she summoned, and they came. Evil Demons of Matter and the Shells of the Dead came to her calling, and she sent some of them to stop the Guardian and others to build her impenetrable wall.

Calling on the Elder Gods, she pleaded for the interference in the affairs of men.

The spell would last, giving her the time that she needed. Now that she had narrowed the list of five houses to only one, the Gurgu house, she now had the identity of the place where the artifact was. Because of that, she could tailor her spells just for that one place. Now, she had just two days to open the gates to Hell itself.

A Cimmerian shade of darkness blanketed the entire town as Lily's request was granted.

Matt slapped Shari across the face to get her out of the trance. It didn't work. She remained transfixed in front of her screen. The room was still dark except for the lights coming from the computer screens. It bathed her face in eerie red and blue lights, varying as the infrared cameras reacted to the temperature. Ghostly figures danced about on the screen like they were whirling dervishes.

He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. The rest of the team glanced up from their monitors to stare. Preston held his breath.

"Shari, wake up," shouted Matt.

Shari turned toward him. Her eyes were black, and her face was contorted into a rigid mask.

"You will all die," she said again with a vengeance.

But the voice that came out of her mouth was still a man's.

Matt slugged her. She slumped over in her chair, knocked unconscious. Preston was stunned at the sudden outburst of violence. Matt then caught her in his arms as she fell unconscious.

"Give me a hand," he said to Alice.

Alice got out of her chair and gave Matt a hand. Shari was light but unconscious. She seemed heavier than normal. Preston watched in amazement as they dragged her over to the couch and laid her down.

"What happened?" he asked.

Matt was still looking at her while Alice returned to her seat. She went back to watching the others, now that the excitement was over. Frank was the only one who kept glancing back to see how she was doing.

"Eyes on the screen," said Matt.

He adjusted her head to the side.

"Her body was captured by an entity. I don't know whether she opened herself to it, or she was overtaken by the... thing."

Matt looked seriously concerned. He was flabbergasted by what had just happened. It was beyond his comprehension.

"Jesus," said Preston.

"Yeah. I don't know if I wake her up now, whether she will still be under the influence."