Pisachas

Chapter One

Her grandmother had warned her, a man would be visiting soon, but Gilia hadn’t realized he would come to her invisible. Old coot, why hadn’t she spoken details to her? Wasn’t Gilia worthy of knowing when her life was about to significantly change?

Yesterday’s visit to her grandmother’s, Sibell, had been out of the ordinary and totally bizarre. She’d called her granddaughter asking to join her for dinner to discuss something important. After her last geology class, Gilia had pulled up into her grandmother’s driveway thinking this was going to be just another typical visit. Sibell had never been heavy on the voodoo nonsense before; just your standard curiosity. But what Gilia hadn’t realized standing outside the average suburban home not far from Birmingham, Alabama was that circumstances had changed drastically.

As soon as she’d entered the front door, a cloud of incense, raw meat and other forms of unfamiliar smells wafted to her nose burning it. Gilia had almost gagged, but swallowed down the bile, hoping her grandmother had a good explanation for this one. “Gran?” she yelled and walked into the living room that always had a big, pink fluffy couch and cedar wood furnishings holding all her collected trinkets and knick-knacks from her travels around the world. But when Gilia turned the corner, the trinkets and tables were gone, the couch was pushed up against the wall, blocking the path to the kitchen and Sibell was sitting cross-legged in a black long dress, in the center of a chalk drawn circle on the wooden floor. Thick grey smoke was rising up around the woman in short, continual puffs. The old woman took deep ragged breaths over and over, until her eyes popped open and clasped her lepidolite gem strung around her wrinkled neck. She wheezed a second and then motioned her granddaughter to the circle.

Gilia paused just outside it. “What the heck is going on, Gran?” “Have you lost your mind?”

“I had a vision last night, Gil.” The old woman struggled to stand up, her bones creaking and cracking from long use. She shuffled over in front of Gilia and held her hand out, placing two objects inside the girl’s hand. Both freaked the crap out of Gilia; it was a small dried bone to God only knew what animal and a vile of red liquid. She shuddered as she stared down at her hand and then back up to her grandmother. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Put the bone inside your pocket and drink the vile,” she stated simply.

“What? No, I’m not going to drink this!”

Sibell was losing patience. “Please, you must for your own safety. It’s only red wine. You know blood of Christ…to protect you in my circle.”

Gilia had debated whether or not to comply with the senile woman. Encouraging this nonsense was probably not in her best interests, but her grandmother had never acted like this before. This must be either a new phase she was going through, influenced by her book club friends or she was for real.

Deciding to do as her grandmother wanted, even though as a third year college student, Gilia was old enough to do as she pleased. But for some reason, she had a feeling her grandmother was not senile or suddenly gone crazy…something was up.

As she uncorked the tiny vile, Sibell mumbled a prayer and crossed herself as if she were Catholic. They were Methodists. Gilia slung the vile back like it was a shot of whiskey and gritted her teeth as she swallowed the dry, burning alcohol. She wasn’t much of a wine drinker. It just was too woodsy tasting or tart depending on the color and kind.

“Now, I want you to chant these words and enter the circle. Do you understand?” Sibell clapped her hands together and dropped her head back as if summoning a God.

This was really starting to alarm Gilia. This whole thing was just too bizarre.

“Repeat after me… I, Gilia Drahves, ask permission to enter this sacred of circles and to protect thy self of entity, spirit or demon plagued to torture humankind. I am of clean soul and heart. Hear this as truth.”

Sucking in a breath to begin, Sibell held up her hand to stop her. “You have to believe it; otherwise evil spirits will be able to enter the circle through you.”

Nodding her head understanding, Gilia took a moment to concentrate before beginning. She did her best to get the right mindset. As soon as she uttered the chant word for word, Gilia stepped into the circle and immediately felt a rush of unexpected energy down her spine. “Whoa,” she said.

“I know,” her grandmother laughed. “I’m aware this is something we’ve never done before, but it’s real Gil.”

“How did you know it would work?” She was sincerely curious now. Sibell grasped her hand and pulled Gilia down to a sitting position around the smoking ceramic bowl.

“I told you I had a dream. Well, vision really…of you and a man.”

“What man?”

Sibell ignored that last question. “When I woke up, I knew that casting a circle of protection and luring you here was the only way to guard you from him. I went directly to Peg for guidance. She informed me that if I truly believed someone was after you that I should do everything in my power to stop him.”

Peg Carson was indeed one of Gran’s book club friends Gilia had feared was encouraging this and she’d been right.

“Gran, tell me what is going on here? And don’t dance around, just tell me.” She was right tired of this weird visit.

“Fine,” the old woman sighed. “My dream wasn’t clear. Just glimpses of you and this man. It was only a feeling I got, but the man was dangerous and…evil. Don’t trust him.” She held up a necklace like her own only with a black stone instead of a lavender one with speckles.

“Wear this from now on. Don’t ever take it off. It will protect you. I’ve already had it cleansed.”

“Cleansed?” Gilia questioned, allowing her grandmother to slip the necklace over her head.

“Yes, past energies, good or bad, need to be removed if the stone is to work right. I took the liberty of washing it in the creek not far from here and letting it dry for a few hours in the sun. That should have allowed enough time to absorb some of Mother Nature’s natural power. Now, you must clasp it in your hands and concentrate. Focus on its necessity to protect you and give you courage to face this being you’re destined to meet. The stone has to have your energy.”

Gilia sent her a perplexed gaze, but did as she was told. The stone was cold at first, but warmed in her hands quickly. She pictured a protective, translucent force field around her whenever she had the necklace on and hoped that would be enough. Sibell smiled at the girl when she lifted her head and dropped the stone back in place between her breasts.

“Now, I want you to keep the bone that’s in your pocket next to your bed at night also. It should help ward off evil spirits.”

Rolling her eyes, Gilia sighed, “Gran…you act like Satan is going to come get me in my sleep.”
Sibell made no means to refute the statement. “It could very well be, honey. I just want you to be safe.”

Gilia nodded her head and didn’t say what she was really thinking. That this was insane and Satan was not going to get her. “Let’s close this circle and call it a night shall we? I’ve got some soup cooking on the stove.”

“Fine,” Gilia said.


That night, Gilia had done what Sibell had requested; the bone was by her bed on the nightstand, the necklace draped around her neck under her oversized t-shirt she wore to bed and she’d even said a prayer before lying down. But that hadn’t stopped him from coming.

Well, at first she hadn’t thought anything out of the ordinary except for the creak in the floor boards. Gilia lifted her head in the dark from her purple silk pillow and glanced around the room as best she could. Her eyes had already adjusted to the darkness, but there were still black voids hard to focus on. “Who’s there?”

In all honesty, her grandmother had scared her a little and Gilia hadn’t slept one wink since she laid down at eleven-thirty. It was now after two and she was half sitting up, expecting a man to come waltzing into her room. But after switching her lamp on, she breathed a sigh of relief at the empty room and laid back down.

Gilia tugged her purple comforter up to her chest and pulled out the onyx stone to examine more closely. She wasn’t going to get anymore sleep, and there was nothing else to do. It was the weekend, so her homework could wait. She’d been able to stay at home for school since Gilia lived close enough to her college to drive, but her mother was dead and her father was away on business…so she was alone.

Hell, why did her grandmother have to scare her like this? It was silly to be afraid. Gilia hadn’t been afraid to stay by herself since she was eleven and the boogie monster in the closet still felt real. Gilia wondered if she’d been right as a child.

No, no…she couldn’t think like that or she’d drive herself crazy. The black stone dangled in front of her, swaying back and forth through the air. When the light hit it just right, Gilia swore she could see through it, but it was probably just a trick of the eye.

Despite its dark color, the stone was actually quite beautiful. Even if it really didn’t do all the stuff her grandmother had said, it was still a pretty necklace to have. Gilia slipped it off her head and was rocking it back and forth harder, when all of a sudden the stone stopped in mid air. It didn’t matter how she tugged or wiggled the chain to get it to move, the stone just rested in mid air, stuck. “What the hell?” she whispered.

Her heart caught in her throat as the necklace was ripped from her fingers and thrown across the room, landing next to her oak dresser. She started to spring up, but realized what felt like two strong hands gripped her shoulders and pressed her down into the silk pillow. Her eyes danced in front of her trying to find a physical body to place with the man’s touch, but there was no one there. Gilia could see her ceiling fan and four glass light fixtures in the shape of petals, but no man.

Impressions where fingers wrapped around her shoulders were present, but no actual fingers. They bit deep on her skin, probably enough to leave marks in the morning. And she knew the instant the “man” had laid on top of her pushing his weight into the mattress and on her. “Gilia…” he breathed into her ear. If he hadn’t been holding her down, she would have jumped right out of her skin; gooseflesh broke out over her body.
“You are mine sweetheart and I will come for you.”

Gilia tried to shake her head, but couldn’t at the feel of his soft plump lips press against her own. This couldn’t be happening. Maybe if she shut her eyes, counted to ten and opened them…this would all be over. He tried to coax a response out of her, but when she wouldn’t he lifted his mouth off her. “You think a little stone is going to stop me from having you?” he laughed in her ear, a deep, smooth cackle. “I don’t think so.”

She felt the bed rise from the lack of his weight. He must have gotten up, “Soon, sweetheart. Very soon.” She heard it whispered across the room.

And suddenly, Gilia knew she was alone once more. The stone necklace discarded on the floor and the bone by her bed, broken. She didn’t know how the entity or man or whatever he was had managed that, but she definitely didn’t want to find out. But she had a feeling she would.