9 Layers

[Clairvoiance]

Karma laughed out loud to herself, walking forward, both eyes focused on the grafitti life saver in front of them.


"Are you effing kidding me?" She panted, letting another laugh out of her lungs and inhaling deeply, "Oh God, this world is much more fun than I thought!"


She leaned up against the bridge wall, staring Karlisle down from afar and taking her hair out of the ponytail so it fell past her shoulders again.


"I'm going to have to get myself one of those," she nodded towards the boy's camera, crossing her arms lightly

 

[Kitsune]

"You stick out like a hand basket out of hell. You really need to work on those manners with people, not to mention your 1800s garb. Its all so drab." Karlisle knelt down and put his camera in his back pack. He approached Karma now with a cautious grace—


"Why are you here Karma... What are you up to?"

 

[Clairvoiance]

Well, she figured walking in front of him would give herself away even if she tried to disguise herself. She rest her hands on her hips. "Well if you have such a problem with my clothes, take me shopping for something new," she winked, leaning back and giving a heavy sigh. Why was she here, huh? What was she to say to that?


"Kicked out of hell, punished by being put on your sorry earth. I'll make it back down there as soon as I haunt a place or two," she sighed, tucking hair behind her ear. She stepped forward, like a lion towards its prey, "And what about you, little guy? What are you up to? A little blackmail, maybe?" She smirked devilishly, her eyes turning ever so slowly back into their crimson shade, "You know, stuff like that ends you up where I'm from."

 

[Kitsune]

"Hmph. As if that's all you need to do to get back there." Karlisle took a step back from her and motioned over to the white symbol he'd painted earlier that day.

"Blackmail is the least of my objectives." He paused and put his hands in his pockets while looking over the river. "That man pressured his wife to commit suicide-- or so that is what everyone will believe it as. You see, he did pressure his wife, but something isn't right about it. But what would you know about that?" Karlisle took out that little spray can once more. "And as far as I'm concerned, he won't be needing his money as time soon." he made a different mark in the symbol now. A new one. Now there were two lines in the circle going the same direction, parallel with each other, and then one running vertically down the left side crossing both lines. He stuffed the can in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.

"Karma?" he looked at the breath-taking girl before him. Her white hair blew in the wind flowing underneath the bridge. Had he known any better, he would have mistaken her for an angel. But it was a Monday, and he knew better.<p><a href="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2015_06/57a8c2b4110c1_UpandOver.jpg.c4921d6a1c4d415e6501ac353c90767c.jpg" class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image"><img data-fileid="55338" src="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2015_06/57a8c2b4110c1_UpandOver.jpg.c4921d6a1c4d415e6501ac353c90767c.jpg" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" alt=""></a></p>​

 

[Clairvoiance]

"Don't talk to me like you know me," Karma hissed, walking slowly up to the boy and resting her eyes on his chest for a moment. "I'm sure I'd remember such a pretty...." she looked up towards his eyes then, "face."


She was sure she'd never met this boy before, but for all she knew, clairvoyants could sense everything about a demon without so much as standing near them. She knew practically nothing about him so she found it rather unfair that he know so much about her, or act like it at least.But that was the least of he worries. She could kill him right now if she wanted. That's what she was here for, besides having a little bit of much needed and long awaited fun. She liked Karlisle's story about the deceased Mrs. Butler and how she must have been pressured by her husband....how awful it felt to do something and not get proper credit for it. Karma wanted to tell the boy that Mrs. Butler died easy and without much coercion at all, seeing as she was a woman so faint of heart. Getting her to jump off a bridge, as she recalled, was easier than any other victim she had in the past, so the real fault would be Mrs. Butler's herself for being such a pushover.


"Yes, Karlisle?" Karma quickly chimed, after Karlisle said her name and revealed a phone

 

[Kitsune]

He looked at her once more, taking her in and studying everything about her. Her look, her feel, her smell— he would not forget her anytime soon. In fact, he would almost miss her and her company. She was rather pretty, but he knew that this was for a reason and not just random happenstance. And those eyes were ravenous with deep longing, but what for? What did she want with him...? Whatever it was, it couldn't be anything good. Demons aren't friends. Demons aren't to be trusted. They lie, they cheat, they steal and murder— Karlisle knew this, and he knew it all too well. Demons are demons for a reason... no matter how breath-taking they might happen to be.


"Don't follow me."


With a click of his camera phone, in an instant he had vanished.


This ability was useful, and Karlisle utilized it often. He had spent the better half of the last few years setting up different portals all throughout the city and beyond. Each portal was made out of a unique substance— intermixed with his blood was a special nether plant he came across one day ages ago now. He discovered its supernatural abilities and made use of it. As long as he is standing within or nearby the symbol when the photo is taken, he will be teleported to it's corresponding symbol, no matter where it was, no matter how far the distance. The beauty of this ability was it's uniqueness to Karlisle himself. He imbued his phone and cameras with his clairvoyant signature, so only his cameras worked with his unique portals. He could move people and demons alike, but they had to be within the symbol and he had to use his camera. Needless to say, it made traveling remarkably simple and extremely useful in quick getaways situations.

 

[Clairvoiance]

In an instant, Karlisle was gone.


Though she wasn't sure exactly how it worked, Karma knew his cellphone was somehow connected with the same ability as his camera. This frustrated her quite a lot, as she felt she had gone to unnecessary lengths to follow the boy once she'd found him. She let herself feel this intense frustration and with it she kicked at the cement wall of the bridge with her rather un-sturdy heels, while spouting off a few obscenities she'd picked up from the underworld. This boy was going to be a massive pain in her ass, and she knew it all too well.


Foreign to what boiling blood felt like in a human's body, Karma let herself slip a little bit further than she should. Anger rose in her like lava, her concentration almost starting to go fuzzy with a certain kind of rage she hadn't felt in centuries. Just then, a completely innocent bystander hopped along only steps from where Karma was standing, and a small little rabbit ran to meet another area of grass on the opposite side of the pathway on which the demon stood.


With no hesitation or thought, Karma appeared next to the small creature, grabbed it by its neck before there was a moment for it to catch it's thoughts, and snapped the neck beneath the weight of her single, right handed palm.


Karma dropped the animal as it fidgeted its last bit of life from his limbs on the pavement before her, her fulfilled and glowing red eyes staring at it without a drop of remorse for the innocent creature that was now no longer living. It gave her some sort of peace, killing something so weak and fragile when it was as harmless as a passing thought.


She couldn't wait for Karlisle to be next.


Her body slowly shifted out of its human form to that of a cat again, in which she began the process of ripping apart small divits of flesh from the rabbit's corpse, and swallowing them in greedy bites.

 

[Kitsune]

Karlisle always did like the view from the Sears Tower. He reappeared on a level opening overlooking the vast city below. The clouds were rolling in. Soon the rain would come with the night, and a hush would fall upon the streets along with the cold rain. Underneath a short gabled roof, Karlisle found shelter from the weather. With hood up- he curled his back against the nearby wall and shut his eyes and let out a deep laden sigh of relief at the incruing silence and the smell of the rain.


 
Karlisle woke in the middle of the night to his phone going off. It vibrated in his hand as he lifted it to his eyes.


"hmm? A text?" the notification for a text message appeared with "unknown" name and number. He clicked to open it and it disappeared. Suddenly there was no text, name or number...


"what the..?"


He checked his phone for anything different. Nothing.


"hmm..." he went on to his photos- he looked at his most recent ones. Before he left the bridge earlier that day, he snapped a picture of Karma on his phone. He stared at the picture intently without flinching or moving. His breathing stopped.

 

[Clairvoiance]

Apparently connections were what this place was all about.


It was easy enough to book a hotel for a couple weeks, since fabricating money was easier than actually working for it. Sometimes she thought she took her powers for granted, but then Karma realized....she didn't really care. What she did care about was Karlisle. Getting her hands on that wretch of a human. Ending his stupid little charade of how he played god. He had no idea what being a god was even like.


Karma laid on her new bed and let out a massive sigh of relief she didn't know she had to release. Comfort was some sort of luxury that she hadn't felt in a very long time, and this bed was showing her a comfort she swore she'd never experienced until now. Resting her head into one of the pillows, Karma stared up at the ceiling and felt the fabrics underneath her skin. So soft.....pure....


No. Purity was not something in her vocabulary. Instantly she drew her mind to something she knew much more about, and was much more accustomed to.


I'll start fresh tomorrow morning looking for that photographer. If he thinks he can play God, I'll show him what that really entails.


Karma's mind started reeling with the longing of her reward at Karlisle's funeral. Truly...a god. Finally. No one to stand in her way. No one to bring in hard limits or second guesses, or to tell her no. But most importantly.....freedom.

 

[Kitsune]

Karlisle stare at his phone.


"No...thats not possible.."


In one swift motion, he rose from his place against the wall and began walking towards the fire escape. Urgently, he ran down the stairs and made his way to the first floor, bursting through the double doors to Michigan Ave.


"...where are you..."

 

[Clairvoiance]

Sleep didn't really exist for the still dead. Karma had gone for a walk on Michigan Avenue instead of trying to magically make the impossible happen. Nighttime was her time anyway.


She had trashed her old clothes and picked up a slew of new ones earlier. Karma wore a pair of skinny black jeans and a white tank top, her leather jacket fitting perfectly against her shoulders and hips as she stopped walking and peered off over the same bridge from earlier. She had no where else to go off of, so she decided this was the place she would continue to return to, just in case Karlisle found his way back there again. But it also gave her that sense of peace again...feeling the air whisk against her neck and flutter her long hair, the smell of the lake twisting in her nostrils, the sound of the waters brushing up against eachother's waves.....she knew she shouldn't but she almost enjoyed the sense of calm.

 

[Kitsune]

He ran down the streets with ferousity. Running running running.


Harder.


Faster.


Longer.


Suddenly he stopped in front of an older building and bolted inside.


*five minutes later*


"Riley, I need to talk to you." Karlisle was pressed up against a random door in a long hallway. "it's about....her."

 

[Clairvoiance]

She had never really felt this peaceful before. It felt oddly inviting and rather good if she was being honest. Propping her hands against the bridge's metal bars that kept people from falling over the sides, Karma lifted herself up and swung her legs around so that she was sitting on the handrail, looking out.

 

[Kitsune]

"This can't be her!"


"I know, I know."


"why..."


"....it means she's still alive. Riley... She's still alive."


 
Karlisle sat on the couch with his stare piercing the wall.


"what are you going to do...?"


Karlisle stared straight forward.


"I need to find her... I have to talk to her again."

 

[Clairvoiance]

How wonderful this air tasted....


For a moment, jumping felt like a viable option. Dying a second time would mean pretty much nothing except going back to where she remembered to be from....but it all felt so familiar to her. This. Sitting on a ledge, watching the water weep in the middle of the night....she suddenly wondered if this is how she died.

 

[Kitsune]

"The water is deathly cold." Karlisle spoke calmly to the white haired girl gazing into the dancing waves. "You'll want to take my word on that." he said carefully, walking beside her and staring out with her.

 

[Clairvoiance]

"Well well, if it isn't Mister "don't follow me", Karma chided, not even glancing over at the boy as she swung her feet a bit over the ledge. She loved feeling this air.


"Couldn't get enough of me, huh?"

 

[Kitsune]

"The city is beautiful at this time of night, wouldn't you agree?" The wind blew gently through the night as the rain began lightly yet again. He didn't know what to say, or how to say it, or where to start. He needed to know more about her.

 

[Clairvoiance]

"It's.....something....." There was truth in that statement, for she knew the place sent her into a dizzy wonder that she could easily vanish into. But here was her prey, standing right next to her, vulnerable and ready to be slaughtered. She should take the chance and fast.....


"I thought you never wanted to see me again," she spat playfully, leaning her chin on her knees and cocking her head towards Lisle to gaze at him with her ruby eyes.

 

[Kitsune]

"I didn't." He slipped his hands into his jacket calmly, still staring into the night.


"Karma, do you remember where you came from?"

 

[Clairvoiance]

She gave it a thought for just a moment, and then tried to pass off the question within a laugh.


"I'm a bonified demon, sweetheart. We all come from one place."

 

[Kitsune]

"Before that." Karlisle was quick to counter. "Do you remember anything before that?"

 

[Clairvoiance]

"What's it to you?" Karma snapped, looking towards the boy in a flash of hate. "When you die you forget. That's how it works down there."


She paused for a moment, giving it deeper thought. She wished she remembered.

 

[Kitsune]

"Completely? That can't be..." Karlisle hesitated unsure of the how to bridge the growing gap between the unrealized past of who this girl was and what it meant for her to be here. She was some one he knew— he used to know, but it couldn't be possible. Yet here she was, sitting beside him on the ground dangling her feet over the ledge. Karlisle let out a regretful and deep seated sigh of longing. How badly he hoped against hope for this to be true— For something impossible. Fear ceased his throat for the first time in a long time as he knelt down beside her and looked over to her and caught her gaze.

 

[Clairvoiance]

"I remember Nothing. Zero." The words were taken out of karmas mouth as she met the boys gaze. She stared into his eyes and tried to look away but it didn't work....


"Its what they take from you down there. Your memories. Unless you become a god.....you have nothing"