The Warlock

The Presence (10.19.22 Prompt)

Click … Click … Click 

Adam turned the handle down, and pushed the door in and proceeded to enter the office. He gently and methodically closed the door behind him and scanned the room with his flashlight. The office was massive, three or four times the size of the common corporate office and filled with ornate trophies, artifacts and art pieces among its walls. Light from the city permeated through the wall window in the back with a desk and office chairs right before it. Three ornate leather chairs stood before the elegant wooden desk followed by a throne of an office chair. Upon the right wall were shelves filled with exquisite liquor stationed above a credenza. 

“Jackpot” Adam thought to himself.

He moved swiftly upon the carpeted floor and began to search each cabinet of the credenza. Upon opening the last one he found his prize: a small steel safe.

“How’s it going?” Zipper buzzed in his earpiece .

“Fine. I found the safe and was about to crack it. Everyone else?”

“Karmen and Diego are already finished. You better hurry up.”

“I know, but is there really a rush? The cleaning crew or maintenance isn’t even around.” Adam dismissed while tuning the dial, feeling for the clicks of the tumblers.

“So? What if something happens? All it would take is ONE person forgetting something then coming back to the office to have our operation foiled!”

“Operation? Really? Whatever, you gotta stop being so paranoid.”

Zipper sighed “ Your right; my horoscope said luck was on my side today”

“I heard you the first three times you told me; you really believe all that bullshit?”

“ HEY, I DON’T SHIT ON YOUR BELIEFS.”

“Because I don’t believe in nonsense.” With one final click, the safe opened revealing its spoils: a filled folder, some gold coins and a vial filled with… blood?

“FUCK Y-“ 

“Safe’s done, gonna start cloning the hard drive.”  Zipper in response uttered disgust, disconnecting.

Adam grabs the folder and coins, double checking to see that the only thing left was the vial. 

Weird, Adam thought as he shrugged.

He slotted the coins into his pocket, locked the safe and stood up. He held the folder in his left hand while placing his flashlight between his right cheek and shoulder. Each page detailed the secret projects of Omnitech: concepts for algorithms, quantum computer schematics, even quantum program theories. To Adam these might as well be scrawlings of a madman; all that mattered was how much the crew could get by selling them to the highest bidder.

He placed the folder into his backpack, withdrew his flash drive then walked around the desk looking for any indication of a computer. After sliding open a panel he found the computer tower slipping in the flash drive. He hunched over the desk staring at the monitor while pressing the on button. The monitor showed the Omnitech logo then flickered to show the desktop. A window popped up on the cleanly organized desktop showing “CLONING” with a progress bar under the text. 

Adam sat down on the elegant throne chair and put his feet up on the desk then turned off his flashlight. Despite Adam’s inability to identify the material of the chair’s upholstery, he found it exorbitantly comfortable. He shifted his lower back till the handgun in his back pocket wasn’t causing any discomfort. 

Damn. I think I owe Zipper an apology.  he thought. His mind turned toward the future, contemplating what he would buy with his ill gotten gains: a house to replace his disheveled apartment,  a new muscle car to replace his decrepit truck, maybe even something for his mother. 

Suddenly, the door to the office swings open ending in a crash against the wall. The lights shoot on. Adam scrambles to stand up and pulls out his handgun pointing it straight ahead. He was instantly stunned and bewildered at the figure that stepped through the door.

The figure was a tall lithe man dressed in a black pinstripe suit with thin blood red stripes and black leather gloves. To top his imposing and powerful stance despite his physique was his mask: the skull of a twelve point stag with blood red resin eyes and sharp daggers for teeth. The eyes bore into Adam, straight into his soul.

“It seems I found the magpie”, said the masked man in a deep distorted voice.

“Just let me leave and you’ll live” said Adam, quickly glancing at the monitor seeing the completion bar only half full.

“No, YOU are going to leave all your possessions here and come with me. I assure you the police will be kinder to you than me.”

“Your funeral, freak.” 

Right before pulling the trigger, the masked man raised his hand with his fingers splayed out. Adam’s arm began twisting clockwise until he could no longer hold the handgun. It fell on the desk and banged against the window before landing on the floor. He began trembling as he felt a presence of something as though a third person was in the room.

“You had your chance” the lights began to flicker, a deep growl began to reverberate around the room. Between the flickering a beast appeared: a humanoid stag standing upright with clawed hands instead of hooves. The head had two sets of twenty point horns and blood red, sickly yellow eyes. 

The beast grabbed his neck with one of its clawed hands, raising him off the ground. Adam was petrified, mystified by the profane presence emanating from the demon. The only thing he could do was gasp for air as the claw strangled him. Adam was lifted high where his head nearly hit the ceiling. The beast unhinged its toothy maw revealing three rows of sharp daggered teeth. The claw released Adam, falling and letting out a blood curdling scream…

Adam awoke on in a bathroom stall, atop the toilet seat.

Was it all a dream? Adam thought. He checked his pockets and noticed all his possessions were gone. The only thing left were the black clothes he wore: jacket, pants, gloves, and beanie. He got up and left the stall. He realized he was in the men’s bathroom of the Omnitech office building and that it was empty. He slipped back into the stall and took off his gloves and beanie. Stepping back out, he briskly walked toward a sink to wash his face. He left the building to find his crew, wondering if what he saw was real and if anyone would believe him.