Shirley woke up, completely confused as to where she was. The first thing she thought was that she must have had too much to drink at her cousin's party last night. But no, things came to her a little more sharply as she looked around her her surroundings. She had been too wasted (damn college jocks with their bottomless kegs of beer...) to drive home, and one guy she'd been talking to offered her a ride. She asked her cousin if he was trustworthy, and had been told that the guy was safe enough.
On the drive home she'd almost fallen asleep twice, but though the guy could tell, he was still driving her home. So thinking all would be well, she decided to stop fighting it. Apparently that had been a bad idea though.
She hadn't woken up at home. Or even the guy's car. She was on top of some old poster bed, the covers full of dust, and the only light was a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. She sat up with a start, wondering where the hell she was. Instinctively, she made sure she had her clothes on, which were, except for her jacket that had been folded under her head like a pillow.
"Hello Shirley." A low voice sounded from the doorway that she knew had been empty a second ago.
Shirley got out of bed and put on her jacket, holding it tightly closed in front of her. "Yeah, um... Abe, was it? Abe, can you take me home? If I vomited in your car I'm sorry, I'll pay for the cleaning. But I really need to get home." She hoped she didn't sound as frightened as she felt, though she was almost positive her voice was shaking.
"Yes of course Shirley. After I show you something." The shadowed but recognizable figure of Abe walked into the room, taking a few steps just so he was now well lighted compared to being out in the dark hallway. "Do you believe in magic?"
Swallowing nervously, Shirley pegged him for a psycho and decided that the only way she was going to get out of this was to play along. "Um, yeah. Yeah sure. Like tricks and stuff."
"No, no, no. Not tricks. REAL magic." Abe held out his hands, palms up, next to each other. In seconds there was something akin to a fireball there, like a giant firefly. It rose slowly, small tendrils of purple-red energy trailing from it. "This for example. It's not a ghost, or a demon, or anything hokey like that. But a being I created out of a combination of spells. Kind of like a baking recipe, actually. Just a whole lot deeper."
Taking a step back as that odd light show appeared and moved on its own, Shirley felt her thighs bump up against the edge of the bed. "Neat, really. Please Abe, I just want to go home."
The relaxed tone disappeared from Abe's voice now, as he slowly lowered his hands to his sides. "I SAID I would. But first, I think you and my little friend here should play first."
"No Abe, get the hell away from me!"
Looking almost bored and a bit frustrated, Abe shook his head. "You really don't know how to listen, do you Shirley? Well that's OK. My friend's going to show you a nice time, and then I'll take you home, and you won't remember a damn thing anyway." Abe stepped back to lean against the doorway, crossing his arms, looking every bit as calm as could be.
The ball of energy crackled and floated over to Shirley, stopping about a foot away from her face. Though she was now positive this wasn't some kind of special effects junk, she still couldn't process what it was, so she was terrified. She couldn't look away from the thing though, fascinating by the small red swirls in its mostly purple color, looking almost like colored mercury.