Tom was speechless. How could a being do such damage? How could he protect his friends, his family, himself? He gave a quick nod before reaching over and dragging the bag over to them, putting it close to her, still laying on the sleeping bag. He wasn’t worried about having another weapon drawn on him. Despite being kidnapped by this woman, he was feeling a warm sense of trust as they continued to talk. “Does this happen….often? Possessions?” He finally spit out the few shaky words after leaving the space between them silent. He could have sworn his heartbeat was echoing throughout the warehouse as it beat faster and faster. “Could I be possessed right now and just be surfaced right now?” Thoughts were racing through his mind, one after the other. He tired to keep himself calm, but his breathing was getting more and more rapid as his anxiety rose. “Could I?”
Cara reached into her bag, pulling out a generic business card with her first name and a fake last name – Ericson – along with a phone number. “I haven’t had to use the burner phone attached to that number, and I’ll try to hold onto it for as long as I can, all right? If one of your doppelgängers’ enemies show up, if anything happens that feels even the slightest bit off to you… Dial the number and I’ll come, no questions asked. …Least I can do after kidnapping you, right?” She offered him a small, tired smirk at that, which quickly disappeared when he asked if possessions were a common occurrence. “I suppose I’m not the right person to ask. I seek out those kinds of hunts on purpose, make them top priority.” Which wasn’t to say she didn’t take on a lot of other cases, she did, possessions were just – unfortunately – her specialty. Seeing that the man was starting to panic, and understandably so, she took the bottle of water she was drinking from and gently tipped it so it washed over his hand. “I top off every bottle with holy water.” Just in case. “And look, no reaction, see? You’re all right. You’re safe. You’re safe…”
He nodded, and a shaky hand reached out and took the business card, holding it between both hands as his eyes glanced over it. Sticking in his chest pocket with one hand, he felt the cool water on his other. He took a deep breath before looking up at the woman. “Thanks,” he said, a small smile on his face. “For calming me down, I mean. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten panicky like that. It’s just-” he started, drying his hand on his pants. “It’s just that these things can’t be explained by logical science. It’s not natural. It shouldn’t exist.” Tom explained in the best way he could. He went to school for medicine. Medical things, he could explain. Supernatural things? Not so much. “How do I know that I won’t get possessed later? Would people notice?”
Cisco backup 