Fade to Black, part two

[vastrix]

Tabitha Osborne: You go to sleep. I wait for her to make the connection and ride it back to her to get her to stop.

Esmeralda von Krauss: But how will I sleep when I am not tired?

Tabitha Osborne: Don’t worry about that. We’ll Plan B it.

Esmeralda von Krauss: Plan B?

Tabitha lunges at Esmeralda and hits her with a hard right hand that knocks the weakened Esmeralda right out. Tabitha sits cross legged in front of the sleeping Esmeralda and begins to utter a series of phrases over and over again using words that no human mouth should be able to form.

A beam of light connects Tabitha’s forehead at the third eye to Esmeralda’s. Tabitha’s form stiffens up as she maintains contact with Esmeralda. The twins look on worriedly, staying by Esmeralda’s side.

Hehehe: I hope-
Hahaha: This gets better.

“Zolothach” Tabitha Osborne feels the connection by the spell coming from the enemy spellcaster. She quickly sends her consciousness down this thread, crossing hundreds of miles in an instant.

She arrives at her destination and looks around to see that a woman is sitting cross legged on the rooftop of a hotel. At least what sees before her looks like a woman. Grisly fetishes and the rags of once fine clothes hang off the corpse-thin frame of this horrifying, sharp-fanged crone with blue skin.

A Night Hag!

The Hag is chanting something in another language over and over again, Tabitha assumes that whatever language is being said that it must contain the true name of Esmeralda von Krauss as the spell being cast is one she tried to do before to banish Nomi Genjo from existence. It is called “Banish Thy Name”.

Tabitha sits before the old crone, her ethereal form felt but unseen. After listening to the foul litany for a few minutes, Tabitha begins mouthing the chanting, but in reverse. The stolen energy begins to return to Esmeralda a little at a time as it is being stolen.

The hag opens her eyes in anger as she feels the energies being ripped from her. Her eyes glowing as she seeks into the ethereal to see who is countering her spell.
Night Hag: You! Why would you help your enemy?

Tabitha just shrugs. The spell has stopped so she hitches a ride back to Esmeralda’s side as the connection starts to break up.

Tabitha looks around. Esmeralda is still asleep, but color has returned to her complexion.

Tabitha Osborne: Oh good. The spell has been stopped. With some rest, Esmeralda should be as good as new.

Tabitha spits the last words out with distaste as they have tried to murder one another for different reasons. The fact that she is saving Esmeralda’s life is strange, but the reward is a lasting truce between them.

A truce. Not for Tabitha’s sake, but for Randy Angel’s since he can and does get attacked for being her…for being her…friend.

Still. A way to be certain that Esmeralda will never harm Randy Angel is to make certain that she dies…

Tabitha gets out her ritual dagger and contemplates slicing Esmeralda’s throat as she is sitting cross legged at the end of the bed. Randy wouldn’t want her to do this, but it really isn’t about what Randy wants. It’s about his being safe.

Tabitha sits as if transfixed, quarelling in her mind about whether to slay the monster before her or not. A motion to the right catches her eye and a bolt of energy smashes into her chest and knocks her from the bed to the floor.

Tabitha jumps up, the front of her shirt blackened with char. She senses the night hag before she actually sees it and hurls her ritual dagger.

The night hag deflects the dagger with what looks like a six foot long finger bone that’s nearly as thick as her arm. Tabitha uses the distraction to try to get closer. She jumps up onto the bed and leaps at the night hag to hit a dropkick, but the night hag spins the bone like a quarterstaff and slams her in the midsection to bring her back down to the floor.

Tabitha starts to get up, but the night hag kicks her in the side of the face, sending a spray of blood and maybe a tooth across the room. Tabitha starts to get back up again, but the night hag slashes with the bone staff and catches her in the side of the head again to knock her back down.

The night hag smiles a ghastly smile, pointing the end of the bone staff at Tabitha’s head. The end of the staff glows as power builds for a final attack.

Night hag: Not so easy when you don’t have the element of surprise. Is it?

Tabitha manages to get to her hands and knees, blood drooling from her mouth to the floor.

Tabitha Osborne: F-funny you should mention the element of surprise.

Night hag: You can’t surprise me anymore, little witch.

Tabitha looks up at the glowing end of the staff and smirks.

Tabitha Osborne: Watch me. Decies centena millia ardens Gehennae sicas!

An uncountable number of blazing energy daggers rip through the floor, though the night hag jumps backward to avoid falling through the floor. The daggers rip through the ceiling and then curl back down to target the night hag. However, she holds out the bone staff and absorbs all of them. She looks down at the exhausted Tabitha with triumph as she points the end of the glowing staff at her once again.

Night hag: Indeed.

Suddenly, the bone staff is kicked from the night hag’s hands and is sent spiraling down through the many floors of the hotel in the holes in the floor. Esmeralda stands before the night hag, seemingly whole once more.

Esmeralda von Krauss: I’m the one who has slain your sisters and broke your coven. You fight me.

Night hag: Of course.