O Death ⇉ Paul Lahote

twelve

As soon as Paul saw Heidi on the floor, he sprinted over to her body, snatching the blanket from her bed and wrapped it around her body in order to pick her up and take her to her bed.

"Paul," Embry called behind him. "That is not Heidi."

Paul glared at Embry, gently caressing the top of Heidi's head. "Be quiet, Embry."

Embry sighed, knowing that it was almost impossible to get through to Paul without any kind of proof – exiting the room for a moment, Embry came back into the room with a large book in his hand, flipping through the book until he stopped at a certain page and looked at Paul for a moment before speaking.

"We don't fully know the extent of her powers yet, but we do know who is in Heidi's body so it's a start. Her name is Ereshkigal, she's the queen of Irkalla, the land of the dead or underworld. She's basically like the female version of Hades except older and more powerful, she's one evil bitch."

Paul frowned, walking over to Embry to look at the book. "How are you so sure?"

Embry looked between Paul and the book. "At first, I thought it was because she was a Sabnuhn – she thought so as well. The touch of death? It has Sabnuhn written all over it. But Sabnuhn's don't devour the hearts of others or develop black eyes after doing so. That was when I knew this was something else."

Paul nodded his head slowly, he didn't want to believe it but what Embry was telling him made sense – could Heidi actually be a monster?

"So what do we do?"

Embry placed the still open book on a table and thought for a moment. "We need to tie her to the bed – we can't let her out. Now that we know that Ereshkigal is in Heidi's body; she's not just a danger to herself or us anymore, we're talking about the potential destruction of all mankind here."

Paul nodded once more, grabbing as many leather belts as he could find and began restraining Heid's ankles and wrists to the bed, making sure they were tight enough to hold her in place but somewhat lose enough to not cause any permanent injury.

Afterwards, the pair waited for Heidi to wake up, getting chairs and placed them at the end of the bed, watching Heidi closely.

When Heidi's eyes slowly fluttered open, she almost immediately began to struggle against the restraints around her wrists and ankles, her mind screaming at her to get out. "Paul, what are you doing? Let me out, please!"

"We all know it's not really you, Heidi. Or should I say Ereshkigal?" Embry almost spat out as he gripped the book in his hands.

She lost all sense of fear in her face within a heartbeat, rolling her eyes as she glared in Paul's direction, a look of pure hatred and irritation spread across her face. "You are so easy to fool, but clearly not easy enough," she almost chuckled a little.

Paul began to grind his teeth together, trying to keep in his anger. "You take me instead, you hear me?! You take me instead! Leave her alone!"

Ereshkigal laughed at his frail attempt, shaking her head. "I don't want your body, werewulf. I want hers. What? You thought I didn't know your little secret, shame you didn't tell little Heidi. She'll hate you now."

"How did you know?" Embry whispered.

"I've been alive for a millennium, I know more than you could possibly imagine," Ereshkigal responded, her head cocking to one side as she focused on Embry. "Now that that's established, let me go."

Embry shook his head. "We can't."

Ereshkigal sighed, rolling her eyes once more. "LET ME GO!" a deep and almost demonic voice screamed out of Heidi's mouth as she pulled against the restraints, causing a shiver to run down both Embry and Paul's spines.

"Not until you tell us where she is! Where's Heidi?!" Paul shouted.

Ereshkigal smirked, her dark eyes focused on Paul. "Don't worry, she's safe. Locked away inside an alternate reality inside her own head – I can assure you that no harm has or will come to her."

Note

I'm trying super hard to get this story finished by the end of the year but lemme tell you, this chapter was a bitch to write. That and I've recently become obsessed with the K-Drama Goblin/Guardian: The Lonely and Great God and I can't stop watching it.

This chapter used to be two, but I decided to combine them to make one to speed the story up a little and to bring my motivation back and get out of writer's block.

I hope you all have an amazing Christmas and an even better New Year, bring on 2019!

I've also opened a Patreon page so if you guys want to support me (you don't have to!) and get some awesome rewards as well, my profile is; BuffyHasNoLife