Chapter Text
Ryan loved finding hidden gems when he went on vacation. When he went to New York City he couldn’t have cared less about Broadway or Times Square. All he cared about was going down sketchy alleyways, grateful that he didn’t have to worry as much as women did, to find little shops. He succeeded in finding a little shop to go into one day. A little antique shop in a far corner of the city, The Antique Nook. Hidden under the cover of the night, the only thing that made its existence known was the fading neon sign out front, “Come in we’re open”. Ryan did just that.
It was unbelievably dusty. He almost immediately went into a sneezing fit. If the bell on the door didn’t alert the shopkeep of his presence, his sneezing sure did.
“Hello?” He heard a voice call from the other side of the store. Footsteps quickly came rushing to the front.
An older man stepped out from behind a shelf, a wide smile on his face.
“Bless you, bless you,” The man spoke before Ryan had the chance. He rushed behind the counter.
“Thank you,” Ryan smiled.
“Take a look around, let me know if you need anything at all!” The man was cheery. He seemed glad to have a customer.
“Slow day?” Ryan commented on the quietness of the shop.
“Oh every day is a slow day here,” The man didn’t seem to be bothered by the question or the answer.
“Oh I’m sorry, sir,” Ryan replied, feeling another sneeze coming on.
“Oh no worries young man. Now go look around,” Just like that the storekeeper seemed to shift his attention, muttering to himself about needing to dust.
Ryan finally sneezed, earning yet another “bless you,” from the shopkeep before beginning to wander through the shop.
The small shop was filled to the brim with stuff. Every wall was covered with posters and paintings and clocks and other wall coverings, only the occasional glimpse of the floral wallpaper could be seen behind them. There were shelves everywhere, the only walking area being thin isles with the occasional fallen item in the middle of it. Every shelf was piled high with trinkets.
Ryan wandered for quite a while. The quiet was peaceful. Every little trinket or poster or sweater had a story behind it, and Ryan tried to read each item like a book, observing the cracks and worn bottoms.
He found many little things. There was a bear that he found especially intriguing. It looked worn and loved and was missing an eye and an ear. He felt as though he would name it Charles if he bought it, but he eventually left it sitting on the pillow it was presented on, surrounded by old perfume bottles.
He continued to walk through the seemingly endless shop. It looked so much smaller on the outside than it felt. At one point he came across a little isle full of mirrors, all facing each other. Ryan knew based on his research on the supernatural that that was a bad idea and steered clear, making a mental note to bring that up to the shopkeep.
Eventually, Ryan came across a jewelry section. It seemed as though he had finally made it to the back of the store after what felt like years of wandering. Something drew him to the jewelry section. He didn’t know what, he had never been interested in jewelry before. As he approached he saw a beautiful little necklace. It was silver with a black stone hanging from it. Wire was bent around the stone to hold it in place, forming a unique pattern.
Ryan leaned in to get a closer look. Upon further inspection, he found that it almost looked like the stone was swirling, some sort of dark gas inside twisting into dark patterns. It pulled Ryan into a trance that he couldn’t get out of. He reached forward to touch it.
“Whatcha doin?”
Ryan was pulled out of his trance by a little girl standing next to him. She was wearing a pink dress and had red pigtails. She was truly the epitome of a stereotypical little girl.
“I- uh-” Ryan suddenly felt as though he had been doing something wrong. He didn’t know what that would be, however. He was in a store, and he wasn’t planning on stealing, so why would he feel wrong? “I was just looking at this necklace,”
She leaned up to look at the necklace in front of him, laying in a grey jewelry box, “Oh! I call that the ghost necklace,”
This intrigued Ryan, “Really? Why?”
“Well look at it! It’s all swirly! It also makes me feel all weird when I’m around it. I once put it on and the black stuff started to come out of it, so I took it off and it stopped. I’m pretty sure it was about to break, so I’m glad I did. Daddy gets upset when I break the stock,”
Ryan was in shock by the comment about the “black stuff” leaving the pendent. If this child was telling the truth, he had certainly come across a haunted item. He turned back to stare at it.
“Daddy told me that no one buys it cause they feel all uneasy when they're around it, and if I see someone interested I should encourage them to buy it. He says he wants to get it out of the shop already because it's been here since we opened. That was before I was born,” She was rocking on her heels, watching Ryan.
“I- yeah that's a long time,” Ryan didn’t break his gaze from the pendant. It still felt like it was reaching for him.
“Yeah! So you should buy it!” The little girl had an innocent grin spread across her face.
Ryan pulled his gaze away from the necklace successfully, looking over at the girl, “I’ll think about it,” He managed a smile. How could he not smile at the excited little girl in front of him, “How old are you?”
“I’m seven! And my name is Annie. My real name is Annabelle, but daddy always calls me Annie,”
“Well it’s nice to meet you Annie,” Ryan looked around them for any sign of anyone else before saying, “So does your dad own this place?”
“Yeah! He’s the guy who said bless you a bunch!”
“Well you should probably go find your dad. I’ll tell you a secret, Annie. Strangers aren’t usually very safe to talk to. I’m a nice stranger, but you should stay close to your dad when you’re talking to strangers just to be safe. There are a lot of mean strangers out there,” Ryan leaned down to be at her level.
Annie thought about it for a moment, “What do you mean there are mean strangers?”
“Well, some people might not be very nice to you, Annie,”
“Oh,” Annie looked deep in thought, before looking back to where the front of the store was, “So should I go back to daddy?”
“You should. Thank you for telling me about the necklace, though,”
“You’re welcome, sir! Do you promise you’ll buy it?”
Ryan froze for a second, glancing back at the necklace and looking away again before it could embrace him in its pull again, “Uhh- yes. Yes I promise,”
How could he refuse a kid?
“Thank you sir!” With a wave, she wandered back towards where her father inevitably was.
Ryan gave a weak wave back as he felt the pendant pulling him towards it again. It felt as though someone was staring at the back of his head, silently begging him to take it. It didn’t feel malicious, however, like how you would assume a haunted item would feel. It felt desperate, anxious, and upset. It still made him feel uneasy, though, just like Annie said.
Now that the child was gone, Ryan found it much more difficult to resist the pull. In fact, he couldn’t resist at all. He turned fully towards the item. It’s black, swirling stone called for him. He felt what seemed like invisible arms guiding his hands to the pendant.
He touched it.
As soon as he made contact he felt a wave of relief wash over him, but something inside of him told him that if he let go it would just start pulling him towards it again. He picked it up, picking up the box soon after.
In his moment of clarity, he checked the price tag. It was originally labeled as fifty dollars, it seemed, but it had been marked down at least ten times and now sat at fifty cents. They really were trying hard to get rid of this thing. He placed the necklace back into the box, grateful it let him put it down, and walked to the front. He completely ignored all of the trinkets he passed on the way, just wanting to get out of the store.
“Ah, did you find everything alright?” the shopkeep asked with a wide grin on his face, now with Annie sitting next to him behind the counter.
“Uh, yeah, everythings good,” Ryan replied, still a bit dazed.
Ryan walked forward, putting the necklace down on the counter.
“And is this all-” The shopkeep stopped himself mid sentence, staring at the necklace in front of him. Shock covered his face, “You’re buying this?”
“I- yeah?”
The shopkeep shook himself out of it, “Oh, well that's wonderful! I’ve been trying to get rid of this old thing for ages now,”
Annie pulled herself to see, “You’re buying it! Daddy, I convinced him to buy it!” a proud smile stretched across his face.
“Good job, Annie,” The shopkeep patted her on the head, “Annie told me all about what you said to her, thank you very much for being nice to her. She’s a very friendly kid sometimes and it’s a bit worrying,” He said as he put the price into his old cash register, “fifty cent plus tax,”
Ryan handed him a dollar, muttering a “keep it,” as the shopkeep went to take out change. The shopkeep smiled, not responding until he had bagged the necklace.
“Tourist?”
“Yep,”
“Where ya from?”
“LA,”
The shopkeep smiled at him yet again, “Ah, so that's why you came here. Usually only locals or people from other big tourist places come to smaller places like here,”
“Yeah, I’m a big fan of finding hidden gems,”
“Well I’m glad you would consider us a gem,” The shopkeep handed him the bag, “have a wonderful day, sir,”
“You too,”
Ryan stepped out of the shop, the necklace at this point completely driven from his mind. He just wanted to get back to the hotel.
He staggered back into the hotel a while later. He hadn’t realized how much he had wandered to get to the shop. He plopped back into bed, his mind finally returning to the bag clutched in his hand. It was calling him again.
Once again he had very little control as he opened the bag. He felt invisible hands guiding him to open the cardboard that held the necklace.
It was like someone else was controlling him, guiding him, as he opened the clasp and gently brought the necklace to his throat. He reclasped it behind his head.
Just as the necklace settled against his collarbone, Ryan saw the black mist begin to quickly pour from an unseen opening in the stone. The once deep black necklace was now fading into a light grey. The mist surrounded him.
Just before he could allow all of the smoke to escape, Ryan came to. He tore the necklace from his neck, throwing it across his hotel room. The smoke hung around him for a few more moments, before it seemed to seep out of the cracked balcony door. He watched it leave, heart rate at an all time high.
He sat fully still for a long time. He had always believed in the paranormal, but this was by far the most evidence he had. That necklace.
But fuck, all he really had was peoples word. Who would even believe him that it's the same necklace?
He slowly crept towards the necklace on the other side of the room. He noticed that it was somehow fully clasped still. He swore he had torn it off. He thought for sure it would be broken.
The other thing that he noticed was that it had gone from a pitch black galaxy to what looked like quartz. It was a foggy, very light grey now. He swore he still saw it swirling.
---
Ryan woke up the next morning in his hotel room bed. He hadn’t remembered falling asleep. In fact, he didn’t remember much at all of the previous day. All that he knew was that the grey quartz necklace on his bedside table made him feel very uneasy.
---
Madej was free. Finally, after all of these decades he had managed to fool some human into freeing him. The first thing he was going to do was kick Dekon’s ass. He couldn’t believe he had the audacity to lock him in a necklace. It was just humiliating.
But just as he was about to be free, the human removed the necklace.
Shit.
He had let go of his hold on him too quickly. Now the human was panicking. There was no way he was getting him back into his hold now that he had such strong emotions flowing through him. The sudden rush of fear made Madej dizzy as it flooded his senses. It had been so long since he had been around fear as strong as this.
But that wasn’t the issue at hand. A part of Madej’s soul was still in the necklace. He was mostly free, sure, but that last bit was crucial. He wasn’t as strong without it. He needed it to properly kick Dekon’s ass in hell.
Madej could practically kiss his rank goodbye if he didn’t get that last part of his soul back.
The most practical solution should have been to just make the human put the necklace back on, but as previously stated, he had too many strong emotions. If Madej had his usual power it wouldn’t have been an issue, but he hadn’t had proper sustenance in decades. Besides, he hadn’t metaphorically “stretched his legs” in those decades either. He would need to rest and regain strength for at least a few months- even years- if he even hoped to control someone while being assaulted by that much emotion.
After his moment of thought, Madej left. He gathered all of his soul that had escaped and left through the nearest open exit, the balcony door.
He needed to come up with a plan. He could feel the rest of his soul calling for him. He was incomplete without it. At least he would know where it was. He could feel it tugging at him.
He needed to leave, though. He needed to gather his strength. At least he had more of himself than when he tried to get the kid to free him.
It was months before now, but it felt like seconds compared to Madej’s lifetime. He had called for the child, and when she put the necklace on, only a small portion of him escaped before she got too afraid that she had broken something.
Never work with kids.
At least enough of him had escaped that day that he could take more control over people. Before then, he would have had no way of controlling the human who had freed him from his “eternal” prison.
Ha. Take that, Dekon.
Dekon was the demon who had trapped Madej. They were of the same rank, same level of power, but in a slight moment of weakness he had gotten the upper hand. Dekon hated Madej. It was fair, Madej was a trickster demon, and Dekon was often the subject of Madej’s tricks. Dekon always told him to come to the human world, trick some of them, but Madej had been uninterested.
Well he guessed he had no choice now.
The first thing Madej needed was a body. There wasn’t much he could do as just a puff of smoke (Actually, that's a lie. There is quite a bit that demons could do without a body. That's how a lot of haunted locations worked, demons playing tricks). He wasn’t a cruel demon, he wasn’t the biggest fan of murder, unlike some people (he’s looking at you, Dekon), so his first stop was the hospital.
Madej’s plan was to take a dying person's body. It was one of the easiest ways to keep a low profile. Besides, it's not like the person was using it anymore. If Madej inhabited it, he would keep the body alive, while the poor soul who used to own it would go to their afterlife, wherever that may be.
Madej found the hospital. He wasn’t the most knowledgeable about the area he was in, but all he had to do was follow the scent of grief. If he did that he would either find a hospital or a cemetary. He was lucky enough to find the former.
He came in through the window, trying not to bring attention to himself. He took in his surroundings. He heard screaming.
He was in the maternity ward.
A mother was lying on the bed, in labor, a doctor desperately tried to console her.
Madej got out of there as quickly as possible.
He quickly went down the hallway and out of the ward, briefly passing the newborns. That was another way demons tended to get bodys, newborns. Some demons, if they were patient enough, would possess a child before they have developed any sort of personality, aka babies. The soul would then go to heaven, where all babies who died in childbirth or were killed in some other way, like genocide, went, and the demon would live in the child's body, pretending to be one. Madej briefly considered doing this, but he needed a body soon. He wasn’t going to kick Dekon’s ass as a baby.
So Madej found his way to the dying people. It was a hall of hospital rooms, and he could feel the sense of dread hanging heavy in the air. He knew he was in the right place.
After going through about ten rooms, he finally found someone young. He was lanky and his breathing was labored despite seeming as though he was asleep. By looking at the paperwork next to his bed he found his name was Shane.
The paperwork said he could be saved. The paperwork said he wasn’t going to die.
But Madej knew that wasn’t true, and he bet Shane knew that too. Madej could see his aura diminishing. He was destined for heaven. Madej was glad for that.
Who said demons were heartless?
Shane was meer hours away from death. Madej knew that. What was the harm in taking those few hours away?
The black smog that made up Madej’s form at the time began to surround the body beneath him. Madej focused all of his energy on the possession.
After a minute of intense concentration, he had done it.
Wow, a minute? Madej had really lost his touch.
He was now in the head of the body. For a few moments, he shared it with Shane. It was a tight squeeze.
What? Who are you? What's happening? The previous owner panicked.
“It’s okay, Shane. You may rest now,” Madej spoke aloud, “Follow the light. You’ll be okay. I’m taking control now,”
What? No! My family, what will happen to them?
“No harm will come to your family, Shane. This was meant to happen. Now, go, you will be happier on the other side,”
The lost soul did not reply this time. It was tired, and finally left.
Madej hoped he was right. He hoped he would be at peace.
Madej blinked the new eyes open. He was Shane now. He quickly binked away the black that filled his eyes and he could no longer see the auras of everyone who passed by the doorway and the ghosts who did not want to leave the mortal realm. All of his senses were dulled, though not as poor as a normal human.
He hadn’t inhabited a human in centuries. It was going to take a bit of getting used to.
Now was the issue of getting out of the hospital. All of the doctors and nurses surely knew about the state that Shane had previously been in. He would have to use his demonic influence to let him pass.
He was going to be exhausted later.
He pushed himself up on his elbows, looking around. He could have gone out the window, but they were on the third floor facing the parking lot, and he was trying not to bring attention to himself. He stood on shaky legs.
Great, of course he chose the lanky one. Humans were already so difficult to control, how did he manage to choose one that was eighty percent legs?
Madej crept to the door- well, he guessed he should go by Shane now, shouldn’t he?
Shane crept to the door, looking outside. There weren’t many people in the hall. He could probably manage to sneak out if he was careful enough without drawing too much attention.
Too bad he was wearing a hospital gown, it would be so much easier if he was wearing normal clothes.
He carefully stepped out of the room, focusing on moving the way a normal human should. Shane didn’t draw too much attention beyond the occasional concerned, curious look. He started on his way towards where he hoped the exit would be.
He hated how little he could see. He knew ghosts were surrounding him, they were harmless, but it was still odd not to see them. Imagine if you were in a room full of people who you couldn’t see.
Shane found the front exit. The waiting room was packed. With his height, he stuck out like a sore thumb, there was no way he was going to just slip out. Every eye was on him.
The receptionist motioned for him to come to the front desk.
Fuck
Shane stepped to the front desk.
“Are you checking out?”
“Uh- yes,”
“Name please?”
Fuck. He hadn’t checked for the last name. Besides, there was no way they would let a dying man check out.
After a quick check that no one could see his face, Shane let his true eyes show. He could only use his demonic influence if he showed his true colors.
“I’m leaving,” Simple. To the point.
In his trance, the receptionist only nodded. Shane smiled, clearing his eyes before turning and leaving, the receptionist still in shock behind the desk.
---
Shane now needed clothes. There was no way he was going to be able to exist in the world in a hospital gown. He hated that he had to go to a store, but that was the only way he would get clothes without robbing someone.
He went to the first clothes store he saw, wanting to get away from all of the weird looks as quickly as possible. He stepped into the building immediately getting spotted by a cheery cashier.
“Hello! Welcome! Are you coming from some sort of costume party?”
“Uhh” Shane thanked the god that frowned upon him for giving him an easy excuse, “Yeah! Yeah, party,”
“Well, let me know if you need anything,”
“Can do!” Shane quickly headed to the section labeled “men”. He was pretty sure this body was a man.
He didn’t need much. Just an outfit. He copied the style of the shopkeep. He had seen hundreds of different outfits on that man, he hoped he dressed normally.
Shane quickly picked out an outfit that he swore he had seen the shopkeep wear before, a turtleneck, blazer, and some weird fancy pants.
He went to check out and realized he had absolutely no money. He hated having to use his powers of suggestion again so soon, but he had to.
“Hello! Did you find everything alright?”
“Uh, yes I did,” Shane awkwardly put the clothes on the counter. She started ringing them up.
“Oh! You like vintage looks?” She was friendly, Shane hated it. Weren’t New Yorkers supposed to be mean?
“Yeah, I really like history and stuff,”
“Oh that's so cool, well it’s gonna be… 80.75,”
Shane sighed, “I already paid you,”
“What-” Shane flashed his true eyes, this wouldn’t be as difficult as the receptionist, “Right. Of course, sorry, how did I forget?”
“Oh don’t worry about it,” Shane took the bagged clothes from her, flashing a smile.
“Well, uh, have a nice day, sir,”
“You too,” Shane said before turning around, leaving the confused cashier and going to the bathrooms to change.
The restrictive clothing was certainly something he would need to get used to.
Now Shane was finally ready to be a person. He began to follow the pull of the necklace to wherever the holder was keeping it now.
---
Shane opened the hotel door with ease, despite it being locked. Inside he saw the person who had freed him passed out on the bed, on top of the comforter.
Despite being locked away for multiple decades, Shane still knew a bit about humans. The more recent stuff he was unsure about, but he remembered the sixties. It wasn’t too different.
Shane found his necklace in the strangers hands. All he had to do was place the necklace around his neck and it would be fine.
But when Shane touched the necklace he began to burn.
“Shit. Holy water? Really Dekon? You made this with holy water?”
His only assumption was that Dekon had to have infused the silver with it somehow. That must have been why it contained him so well.
Shane picked up the necklace by his sleeve, but he had no way to unclasp it to wrap it around the strangers neck, and surely it wouldn’t work if he wore it himself. He placed it on the table beside the bed and stared back at the man in front of him.
There was something about him looking so peaceful. Now he wasn’t being bombarded with his fear, he could really observe the human in front of him.
Shane felt… something. A debt, he decided. He owed this human something for freeing him, even if he was afraid, besides, he needed to get the rest of that soul.
Shane didn’t think until much later that he could have taken the necklace, simply not touching it with his hand, and make someone else wear it, until much later. If he had thought of it then, he may have done that. But even if he did consider it, he didn’t.
Without thinking much about it, Shane gently picked up the human. He did not wake, perhaps because of Shane’s intervention. Shane used his strength to hold the smaller human with one arm, while he pulled the blankets back with the other. He laid the human down again and tucked him in, the way you would put a child who fell asleep in the car to bed.
Shane didn’t know where the sudden gentleness came from, but before he left he laid his hand on the strangers forehead. He used the rest of his strength to pull the memories of the necklace from his head, all excluding buying it. He made him believe that it had always been grey. He didn’t need him causing trouble.
After all of that, Shane slipped out of the hotel room, touchlessly locking the door behind him.
---
The human left the city the next day, and Shane followed without a second thought.