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Written by Jay Michael Wright II
A handsome chap in white sat at a polished mahogany desk as he sipped on a cup of tea. He held in one hand a book which he casually flipped through, smiling and laughing as he reminisced about the stories that he read. He looked up at you and smiled. He set his book down, stood up, and held his arms out as if welcoming you home.
“Hello, dear reader! You’ve returned! Just when I thought perhaps you had forgotten about me. I know how hectic the mortal life can be: work, children, school—it’s all enough to drive even the best of us mad, but it’s simply delightful to see you once again!
“For those of you who don’t know me, please allow me to introduce myself. I’m a man of wealth and...wait. That song isn’t about me. Here I am doing all the leg work and Lucifer is the one getting all the song dedications. It’s rather troubling, but I digress.
“I am Mephistopheles, the Demon of Deals, and this is my humble abode. Behind me, you will see a small sampling of my library of stories. Every dæmon, every vampyre, every creature hidden behind the veil, their stories are here. I’m a recordkeeper of sorts, and in this room, the truth will be revealed. The truth that hides right before your eyes.
“Life is like a stage magician. While you’re busy paying attention to the hand holding your job, your relationships, and buying the newest smart phone, there’s a nightmarish truth hidden in the magician’s other hand. So, would you care to bargain for another of my stories? Are you brave enough to look into the abyss and see what stares back at you? You are? Excellent! I knew from the moment I met you that you wouldn’t disappoint me.”
He sat back down in his chair and took another sip of tea. “Would you care for a spot of tea? It’s an exquisite blend that I learned from an ambitious young man named Faust several decades ago in New Orleans. That was long ago, and the first time a little vampyre named Nicky broke one of my favorite toys.”
He sighed. “Ah, the memories. But tonight’s story isn’t about me, tonight’s story is for you. And what is our story about? Oh, yes! Demons, or as I prefer to call us—fallen angels. They are quite possibly my favorite of all of God’s creations. They were created to serve, but destined to fall. Perhaps it’s the poet in me, but I find that fact absolutely fascinating. They are as beautiful as anything ever made and more evil than you could ever imagine.
“You may think the fallen angels rare, but we walk amongst you all the time. We hide under your beds and in your closets when you are children. We hide in plain sight. We’re your neighbors, your co-workers, the hobo you pass on the street, and the little old lady behind you in line at the grocery store.
“We’re the eerie feeling you get as you try to fall asleep, the strange shadow moving that you catch out of the corner of your eye that you keep reassuring yourself was nothing. We are the things that go bump in the night, and we are everywhere—even in your little books. How do you think Lily Luchesi gets such terrifying ideas? Or why you have such frightening nightmares? Why, there are demons whispering in your ears, of course!
“So, keep reading, dear children, and you may find yourself a new reason not to sleep at night. The veil has been lifted, and what awaits you is the terrifying truth. Now, move along and enjoy your little read. I’m sure we’ll talk again soon.”
Birmingham, Alabama
Drenched in sweat and stinking of alcohol, Alicia ran out of the Alabama Theatre and threw both her arms up in the air. She shouted, “Alice-fucking-Cooper, baby!” and let out a squeal that seemed to echo throughout the entire city block.
Aw, shit, John thought. She is even drunker than I thought.
When Alicia started her little dance and singing the chorus to School’s Out for Summer at the top of her lungs, it was kind of cute. When she ran up to an on-duty Birmingham police officer, threw her index and pinky fingers in his face, and screamed “Rock and fuckin’ roll, dude!” John broke out in a cold sweat.
Okay, officially time to wrangle the drunk girlfriend.
John ran up as Alicia burst into laughter and started staggering from side to side. John looked up at the officer with an apologetic smile. “I am so sorry, sir. She had a few too many at the concert. I promise, she’s not going to be going anywhere near a steering wheel tonight.”
The officer scowled at John and said, “Just get her on out of here before I take her in for public intoxication.”
John smiled and nodded, “Yes, sir, moving right along.”
He placed one arm under Alicia and started leading her down the sidewalk. He looked back at the entrance and shouted, “Joy! Where the heck are you? I could use a little help here.”
John caught glimpses of Joy’s aquamarine hair darting through the crowd and almost said a thank-you prayer when she finally caught up to them. Joy was maybe the one person who could contain Alicia when she was this kind of drunk.
Taking Alicia’s arm, Joy panted as she fished a pack of menthols out of her front pocket. She sparked up and said, “I got her.” Looking into Alicia’s eyes, she added, “This isn’t our first rodeo, now is it, sunshine?”
Alicia pulled away from John and threw both her arms around Joy’s neck. With a silly grin on her face, Alicia said with a slur, “Nope! We’ve done this a hundred times before.” She then wrinkled her brow and blurted out, “You know what? I think I love you, Joy.” She looked over her shoulder at John and said, “John, I’m leaving you.” She then burst into laughter and fell to her knees.
Joy looked at John with concerned eyes. She whispered, “Christ, she’s drunk.”
John stopped what he was doing and tilted his head to the side. “Ya think?”
Joy scrunched up her nose and stuck out her tongue. “Fucking smartass! Why’d you let her drink so many Long Island Iced Teas, anyway?”
John put his hands on his hips. “Do you really think I can stop her from doing something? Have you met your best friend before tonight?”
Joy helped prop Alicia up against a building and replied, “Good point. So how are we getting back to the hotel? Taxi?”
John shook his head. “Fuck a taxi. I’ve already got someone coming to pick us up with the Wander app. Our driver’s name is Mandy, and she will be here in—” John checked his phone. “—five minutes.”
Joy took a seat by Alicia and stretched her legs. “Alright, just five minutes of babysitting Drinky McDrinkerton here and we can go get some sleep. I am so not looking forward to that drive back to Tennessee tomorrow.”
John took a seat on the other side of Alicia and lit his own cigarette. “Oh, what are you bitching about? I drove the entire way while the two of you took naps. This concert wasn’t even my idea. You two were the ones that wanted to see Alice Cooper.”
Saying Cooper’s name seemed to bring Alicia back from the dead. She threw hands up in the air again and shouted, “Cooper!” before all but passing back out again.
John snickered. “Oh shit. It’s gonna be a really long night. I can feel it.”
Joy thumped her cigarette out to the street and replied, “Nah. You get this little cowgirl between us in a bed and she’ll be out like a light.”
John shook his head. “Bullshit. Eight mixed drinks are a recipe for worshipping the porcelain goddess all night. Since I drove all fucking day, you can be on ‘holding her hair back as she pukes her insides out’ duty.”
Joy shot John a dirty look. “Fuck you, John! You’re her boyfriend. You should have to take babysitting duty for the night.”
John took a long drag off his cigarette and smiled. “And you’re her best friend since grade school, so cry me a fuckin’ river. Do you want to drive back to Chattanooga tomorrow?”
Joy hung her head and in a defeated voice said, “No.”
John laughed and pointed at Joy. “And that is why you’re on babysitting duty!”
Four minutes, two near puking incidents, and several awkward gazes from strangers later, a late 80s model Crown Victoria with tinted windows stopped in the middle of the street. The front passenger side window rolled down and a young woman with bright red hair with yellow tips shouted, “Did someone named John call for a ride?”
John quickly crushed his cigarette on the pavement and raised his hand. “That’s me!” He grabbed one of Alicia’s arms and looked over at Joy. “Help me get her in the car, would ya?”
It took a few stumbles and falling against the car, but they managed to get Alicia inside the backseat without the letting of blood. John stretched out and his back cracked several times as he did. He just grimaced through it and was thankful to have a place to sit. At this point, any ride to the hotel was a good one.
The young woman in the front seat turned around with a pleasant smile on her face. “So, what you crazy kids been out doing?”
“Alice Cooper concert at the Alabama fucking Theatre, baby!” Alicia shouted before falling back into a state of semi-consciousness with her head down in John’s lap.
John brushed the hair from Alicia’s face and smirked. “What she said. And please excuse her. She’s had more than a little bit to drink tonight.”
The woman smiled. “Don’t you worry about that. Trust me, I’ve done far worse. But I’m Mandy, and I’ll be getting you folks where you need to be tonight. So where are we off to?”
Joy fished a receipt out of her purse. “We’re at the Wynfrey Hotel over in Hoover.”
Mandy smiled. “I know the place. Strap in, boys and girls, it’s going to be one hell of a ride.”
John fished a cigarette out of his pocket and Mandy quickly wagged her finger at him as she stared into the rearview mirror. “Sorry, no smoking.”
Well fuck, John thought as he put the cigarette away. Looking around, John noticed how odd the interior of this car was. There were tiny speakers at the corners of both backdoors and a huge metal plate that separated the backseat from the front. “What’s up with this car? I’ve never seen a Crown Victoria like this before.”
John watched Mandy in the rearview mirror. She smiled joyously as she responded. “This used to be a police-issue Crown Vic. I picked it up at an auction for a steal. That’s why it has that crazy steel plate back there. It cost more to remove it than it was worth, so I just left it.”
The answer seemed reasonable enough. John knew a few people who had bought used police cars and converted them into personal vehicles, just none of them looked quite like this. Still, he had more important duties to deal with at the time, like trying to keep Alicia from falling onto the floor. My God! I should take a video. She’ll never believe me tomorrow about how drunk she was.
Alicia tinkered with her phone and grimaced. “Damn it! I can’t get a signal to save my life!”
John wrinkled his brow and took out his own phone. It was just like Alicia said. He had zero signal. “Shit, me either.”
Mandy continued to smile. “It’s just the car. Something about the metal plating or something. It’s nothing to worry about.”
The car came to rest at a red light and Mandy took a left turn when John was positive their hotel was the other way. “Hey,” he interjected, “I think we went the wrong way.”
Mandy laughed and kept smiling. “I’m so sorry. I really am.”
Despite her words, Mandy kept driving straight with what appeared to be zero intention of turning the car around. Alicia looked at John with concern in her eyes. She leaned forward. “Aren’t you going to bust a U-turn and head back the other direction?” Mandy sighed. “This is the part of the night I truly hate. There was a legitimate 50/50 chance that your hotel would be the direction that we’re going anyway. Ya see, you kids are in for the worst night of your life. You could have found out later, but looks like you’re just going to have to be scared of out your minds now.”
Before he could even move, a plate of solid Plexiglas rose from the metal plate separating the front and back of the car, sealing John and the others in. John slammed his hand against the glass. “Hey! What the fuck is this?”
Mandy’s smile had turned to something darker and much more wicked. “That’s my insurance you don’t get away,” she said over the speakers hanging over the door.
Alicia screamed, “Hey! Come on! This isn’t funny.”
Mandy held up her middle finger. “Bitch, I ain’t laughing.”
John went into panic mode. He slammed his fist into the glass barrier a dozen times, but it wouldn’t budge. He punched it ‘til his knuckles bled and still he tried bursting through, without success.
Mandy laughed. “You can do that all day. It’s not going to break, pal.”
Alicia took her high heels off and smacked them against the glass until the heel broke off. She slapped at the glass. “Come on, lady. Let us out of here! What do you want? Money? You can have it! Just let us out!”
Mandy snickered. “Fuck your money.”
John’s heart raced. He looked over at Joy who was desperately yanking on the door handle without success. Seeing no other option, he tucked his knees to his chest and started kicking at the glass with everything he had. The glass didn’t budge, but Mandy seemed to get a kick out of it. Her words dripped with the venom known as sarcasm. “That’s it, hero! Kick it hard! You can do better than that! Show me what you got, big boy!”
John’s legs were on fire and he hadn’t so much as cracked the glass. Alicia grabbed his shoulders and frantically cried, “What are we gonna do, John?” Tears started streaming down her face and John was completely bewildered. Nothing he tried worked. They seemed to be at Mandy’s mercy.
Before he could form an answer, Mandy said, “Alright, that’s enough giving you little talking monkeys hope. Time to go night-night.”
She flipped a switch and the back of the car was filled with a nauseating gas. John started gasping for air. Alicia fell into the floorboard and threw up before becoming completely still. Joy pounded on the window until she slowly slumped down in the seat. John clawed at the glass, knowing it was pointless, but he still had to try. He felt like he was floating in the air as everything began to spin.
John was awakened by the sound of Joy’s crying. His eyes fluttered open and he realized that he was tied to a chair in what looked to be the basement from Silence of the Lambs. His heart raced as he looked around. Joy was tied to a chair on the left and Alicia was tied to a chair on his right. Standing in front of them, smirking as she played with a baseball bat, was Mandy. Behind her was a dilapidated old wood table covered with an assortment of very painful looking tools and gadgets.
John struggled with the ropes that bound him, but found that they wouldn’t give. Mandy walked over and got down in John’s face. “You ain’t goin’ anywhere, hero. So you might as well make yourself at home.”
John had a chill run down his spine. He knew whatever Mandy had planned, it wasn’t good. “Why are you doing this?”
Mandy smirked. “Why?” Her tone turned harsh. “Because I fucking can!” She paused, scratched her chin, and then continued. “Though I guess you do deserve at least some kind of explanation. After all, I’m going to kill you. It’s the least I can do.”
“Kill us?” Joy asked as tears ran down her cheeks.
Mandy pursed her lips. “Yes, sunshine. I’m going to kill you.”
It was Alicia’s turn to cry. “Please, Mandy! Just let us go. We won’t tell anyone. I just wanna go home.”
Mandy pounced on top of Alicia and shouted, “And that’s why we’re here! I can’t go home, so you can’t either.”
Joy whimpered, “Oh God, help us!” This was, apparently, the worst fucking thing she could have possibly said.
Mandy walked up to Joy with a fire burning in her eyes. “God? Let me tell you about your fucking God. Once upon a time, believe it or not, I was an angel and sang in Heaven’s choir. Every day, I gave my praise to The Father—and then the Great Uprising happened. My husband, Azrael, sided with Lucifer. He begged me to join them, but, why would I? I was a fucking artist, not a soldier. I had no interest in the entire affair. My job was to sing God’s praises, not fight in some meaningless war.
“As you probably heard, Lucifer lost, and God cast his defiant son and all that followed him into the Pit of Hell, then God turned his eyes on those of us who refused to fight. And what do you think he did? Was he merciful? Was he forgiving? Did he welcome us home with open arms? No. The bastard turned around and cast each and every one of us who refused to fight, out of Heaven, but he didn’t cast us to Hell with the others? No, he cast us down to earth with you little talking monkeys.
“I can’t even spend eternity with my husband because I’m stuck here with you, and I hate you for it. You walk around, the entire world at your fingertips, and what do you do? You send nude pictures to each other and look at cat videos on the internet. You’re God’s favorite little creation, and you fuckin’ sicken me. I swear, I will either kill enough of you that Hell will open its gates for me to reunite with my love, or God himself will come down and smite me dead for my transgressions. At this point, I really don’t care which of the two happens. I can’t stand to spend another day on this rock surrounded by you worthless fucking beasts.”
To John’s horror, Joy actually began laughing. “Did you hear that? This crazy bitch thinks she was an angel. That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.”
John leaned towards Joy and whispered, “Shut the fuck up, Joy! This ain’t the time!”
Mandy scowled and stood up straight. Her body stiffened and John’s jaw dropped as a pair of black feathered wings ripped through her t-shirt. The room fell silent as Mandy stretched her wings wide and her eyes began to burn like fire. She inched towards Joy and whispered, “Do you remember what angels always say to mortals in the Bible? ‘Be not afraid.’ Do you know why that is? Because all angels are monsters—even the good ones.”
Mandy raised the baseball bat in her hand high overhead and brought it down in a powerful arcing attack. The blow caught Joy in the jaw and sent teeth flying. The second, she brought straight down to the top of Joy’s skull. John vomited as the sound of Joy’s skull splitting open reminded him of the time he watched David Justice hit a homerun for the Atlanta Braves in his youth. Chills penetrated his very soul as he watched the carnage unfold. He had never seen anything so brutal in his life.
Despite the fact Joy was surely already dead, Mandy continued beating her. She refused to stop until Joy’s face was a bloody pulp. By the time Mandy was done, John couldn’t even recognize his friend anymore.
Mandy cast the bat on the ground and shrieked at a volume that seemed to shake the entire building. She then looked at John and Alicia hungrily. She whispered, “I’ll be back for you two later.”
John and Alicia were left alone with Joy’s corpse for what seemed an eternity. There were no windows in this room, no way of telling what time of day it was. The only light was provided by a lightbulb dangling from a chain in the middle of the room. When Mandy made her exit up the stairs, John tried once again to free himself, but it was futile. He was filled with a terrible dread. He was going to die down here. He could feel it.
What made it worse, John was basically all alone. Alicia, since seeing Joy’s skull bashed in, had been all but comatose. She stared blankly off into the distance and rocked back and forth as much as the ropes that held her would allow. He had called her name a dozen times and not once did she answer. He was afraid that her mind had completely snapped.
The door at the top of the stairs creaked open and John’s heart started to race. Oh my God! She’s coming back to finish us off. That crazy bitch is going to kill us all. When a young woman he had never seen before walked through the door, he sighed in relief. Whoever she was, she couldn’t be as bad as Mandy.
The woman looked to be a teenager. She had long, straight brown hair and was as pale as moonlight. A spark of hope arose in John’s heart. Maybe, just maybe, he could reason with this girl and get him and Alicia out of there.
The woman never said a word and never looked in John’s direction. She was instead focused on Joy’s corpse. She started untying the ropes that held Joy to the chair as John worked up the courage to speak.
“Hey! Hey, you!” he said, but the woman merely glanced over at him without saying a word and went back to work.
Desperation swelled up in John and he cried out, “Please help us! She’s going to kill us!”
The woman looked over at John and coldly replied, “I know she is. It’s what the mistress of the house does.”
She’s talking. That’s a start. Just keep her talking.
“What’s your name?” John asked, hoping to try and form some kind of bond with the girl. She remained silent, so he added, “Come on, what can it hurt? I’m doing to die anyway, right?”
The woman looked up as she untied the last of the ropes holding Joy. Looking annoyed, she responded, “My name is Molly, but if you know what is good for you, you’ll keep your mouth shut and do as you’re told.”
Molly grabbed Joy’s legs and began to drag her corpse towards the back of the room and a door John hadn’t noticed before. “Please, Molly! Just untie me and my girlfriend and let us out of here. I’ll do anything you want. I don’t want to die down here.”
Molly stopped what she was doing and marched up to John. “You’re trapped in her web, John. You’re already dead. You were dead the moment you got inside her car. Face the facts, there is no escaping your destiny.”
She paused, and a look of wonderment came over her. She inched closer and brushed John’s hair out of his face. She whispered, “Oh, my God! You have his eyes.”
From the top of the stairs, Mandy called out, “Molly! That’s enough talking with the playthings. Get back to work!”
Molly lowered her head and lumbered towards Joy’s body. She grabbed Joy by the ankles, dragged her through the door and disappeared. John trembled with fear as the thoughts of what was to come flooded his mind. He cried and whimpered, “God, I’m so sorry for everything I’ve done.”
The door at the top of the stairs opened and, much to John’s horror, Mandy appeared. Her wings had returned to wherever angels’ wings go when they’re not showing and she had a terrible scowl on her face. This did not bode well for John and Alicia. With every step she took, John’s hopes sank deeper into the abyss.
Without a word, she walked to the wood table, covered in diabolical devices. She began, one by one, inspecting each tool of torture. John felt cold sweat slither down his spine as Mandy held up a scalpel to the light. The glare from it filled John with a terrible dread.
Mandy turned, smiling like a child trying to figure out which of her toys she wanted to play with first. She strolled up to Alicia, who remained silent, but struggled against her ropes frantically as an almost inhuman sound of terror escaped from her throat. Mandy raised the scalpel high overhead and prepared to strike when John screamed out.
“Please don’t!”
Mandy froze. She turned to John and smiled. “Once again, playing the hero are we, John? I’ll make you an offer, a one time deal, if you will. Your girlfriend can have the scalpel, or you can have something far worse. The choice is yours. So, what do you say?”
John trembled in fear, but it turned into a fire that burned in his belly. He glared at Mandy. “Bring it on, bitch! Do your worst!”
Mandy softly giggled. “Oh, I will.”
She walked up to John and laid the scalpel she carried on the arm of the chair to which he was tied. She covered his eyes with her hand and started chanting in some language he didn’t understand.
What the fuck is she doing?
He heard the door on the stairs open and Molly call out, “Mistress, I hate to bother you, but you’re needed upstairs for a moment.”
Mandy uncovered John’s eyes and sighed. She leaned down so close that John thought she might kiss him. She caressed his cheek and whispered, “I’m not done with you, monkey. I’ll be back shortly.”
Mandy climbed the stairs and disappeared through the door. John breathed a sigh of relief. He then looked down and realized Mandy had made the mistake of forgetting about the scalpel. It was just out of reach, but John thought if he stretched out, he might be able to reach it.
Shifting around in the chair, John reached with his fingers for the shiny metal object. The tip of his middle finger just barely touched it. If he could only slide it closer, he could get out of this nightmare.
Goddamn it! Will you just grab it already?
His middle finger caught enough of the scalpel to pull it to his hand. Oh, thank you, Jesus! He grabbed the handle and twisted it around so that it was facing his body. As quickly as he could, he began cutting through the ropes around his wrist.
He heard noises upstairs and his heart skipped a beat. Oh God! What if she comes back? He doubled his efforts as the sweat poured down his face. Finally, the rope gave way and a wave of hope washed over John.
With his right hand free, he quickly began cutting through the other ropes binding him, starting with his other arm. He then moved to his chest and finally his legs. He was finally free. He rushed to Alicia and stared into her eyes.
“Baby? Can you hear me?” She didn’t respond, she just kept staring off into the distance with glassy eyes. “Oh shit, this ain’t good. Don’t you worry, baby. I’m gonna get us out of here.”
John started cutting through Alicia’s ropes when he heard voices at the upstairs door. He froze in place and stared in horror. Oh fuck, she’s coming...she’s coming. He caressed Alicia’s face and whispered, “Baby, I’m coming back for you. I promise.” He kissed her on the face and took off for the only exit he had: the door on the other side of the basement and whatever mysteries it held.
At first, the door refused to budge. Are you fucking shitting me? Hearing the upstairs door creak open, he found a new level of determination. Turning the door knob, John put his shoulder into it and forced the door open. He quickly shut it and turned to find that he was in someplace much, much worse.
Jesus fucking Christ! Where am I now?
The chamber he entered was huge. There were dozens of rotting corpses dangling from meat hooks throughout the room. In the dead center of the room was a large wooden cross. Nailed to it were the mangled remains of Joy.
“Oh, my fucking God.” John gasped. His stomach churned and he heaved up everything in his belly. He fell against the wall as he collected himself and stared in horror at the nightmare before him. The smell of the decaying flesh suddenly hit him and he was again bent over puking up stomach acid.
He finally caught his breath and thought, ‘Fuck this shit! I’ve got to get out of here before I end up dangling from the ceiling myself.’ John wanted to run, but just the thought of bumping into one of these bodies made him ill. He weaved through the forest of corpses until he reached the cross. He stopped and looked up. God, Joy, I’m so fucking sorry.
John nearly leaped out of his skin as Joy’s eyes popped open. Her blood covered face formed a scowl as she hissed at him, “You let her kill me, John!”
He slowly took a step backwards. This isn’t real. This can’t be real. He tried to speak but kept stumbling over his words. “You...you...you’re dead! I saw her kill you.”
Joy’s remains smiled, revealing many missing teeth. “And now I’ll kill you.” She started straining every muscle as she pulled her arm free, the nail which held her to the cross slowly ripped through her wrist, creating a sickening slurping sound as it tore through flesh, muscle, and tendon. John trembled in fear and started slowly stepping away. His foot snagged on something hidden in the dirt and he fell flat of his back as Joy pulled her second arm free. She dropped from the crucifix with a wicked expression on her mangled face.
John pushed himself along the ground, trying to make enough space for him to regain his feet, but Joy stayed nearly on top of him, twisting and contorting her head and neck in the most unnatural of ways. “What’s the matter, John? Don’t you think I’m pretty anymore?”
The panic held John like a vise. This can’t be real. I’m dreaming. I’ve got to be dreaming.
Joy pounced on top of him. Blood and pus dripped from her wounds straight onto John’s face. He pushed and pulled on Joy, but she just wouldn’t budge. He frantically started feeling around on the ground for something, anything that he could use to get her off him. Buried in the dirt, he felt a wooden handle. He didn’t know what it was, but he’d take it.
He pulled the item free as Joy snapped at his neck with what was left of her teeth. He glanced to see what he had found and smiled. It was a hammer. He didn’t have time to flip it around to the bludgeoning end, so he slammed the claw end into Joy’s temple. The hammer became stuck and Joy momentarily became stunned. A piece of her already shattered skull broke free and skidded down the side of her face, leaving a trail of blood and cranial fluid before it landed on top of John’s chest.
John quickly knocked the bone fragment away and kicked Joy off of him. To his horror, she was still moving, reaching out for him, grasping for his legs and growling like a feral beast. John moved in a wide circle, using the corpses dangling from the ceiling to shield himself from Joy’s advances.
He approached her at an angle that seemed as safe as any and placed his foot against her neck. Using both hands, he grabbed the hammer protruding from her skull and pulled with all his might. The tool was released, sending blood and bits of brain-matter flying across the room. With one mighty swing, he connected to her temple. Her entire neck swung to the side and he could hear the vertebrae crack. He was positive he had broken her neck, but he wasn’t even close to done with her.
He dropped to his knees beside her and brought the hammer straight down. Tears rolled down his face as he screamed, “Die, you bitch! Die!” He swung until he lost count and exhausted himself. When he was done, her skull was everything but completely flat. A sludge of blood, bits of broken bone, and pieces of brain tissue now formed a circle around what had been the head of one of his closest friends.
He tossed the hammer to the side and covered his mouth. He rocked back and forth as he looked at the mess he had created. He was now covered in blood and other substances he could not- nor did he want to- identify. He cried as he hadn’t cried since childhood. All he wanted was to go home. It was all he could think about.
The light in the room shut off and John was surrounded by complete darkness. Terror grabbed hold of him by the balls. He broke out in a cold sweat. His heart started pounding like a drum in his chest. For a moment, he considered curling up into a ball and just letting death take him.
The light came back on and it seemed he was in an entirely different chamber. What the holy fuck just happened? He looked around the room and rubbed his eyes. Surely, they were playing tricks on him. This couldn’t be real.
Instead of corpses dangling from the ceiling, there were dozens of broken porcelain dolls and tattered teddy bears that looked like they had been discarded years ago. The cross in the middle of the room was missing, and instead of Joy’s battered corpse laying before him, there was another porcelain doll whose head had been completely bashed in. His hammer was nowhere to be found.
He started to cry, but even John found himself surprised when he started laughing instead. He slammed his fist against the dusty ground and cackled. “I’ve lost my fucking mind!” He continued to laugh as tears rolled down his face. “I’m over the rainbow—completely mad as a hatter.”
He nearly pissed himself when he heard a female’s voice call out to him. “Everyone goes mad. Some of my favorite people are mad.”
He turned, and standing in front of a dark archway on the other side of the chamber was a teenage blonde girl. She wore ripped up jeans and a black t-shirt with a white rabbit design on the front. “Who...who are you?”
The girl smiled. “Does it matter who I am if I can show you the way out of here?”
His hopes rose. “You know the way out?”
She smiled pleasantly as she responded. “Of course, I do,” she took a pocket watch out of her pants, flipped it open and added, “but we’re going to be late if we don’t hurry.”
John wiped the tears from his eyes and stood up. He was so happy to see a friendly face, he would probably follow this girl anywhere. “Late for what?”
The blonde smiled coyly. “Why, the party, silly! Everyone’s going to be there!”
John weaved his way through the forest of porcelain dolls and abused teddy bears to approach the girl. “What party? I don’t understand.”
The girl laughed and pulled a flashlight from her pocket. “You don’t have to understand! All you have to do is follow. On your mark, get set, go!” With that, the girl was down the hallway, running at break-neck speed. She shouted, “Come on, silly! Follow the white rabbit! It’s a game!”
John stood there, flabbergasted. He wanted out of there, but following this chick seemed questionable at best. Dude, are you seriously about to follow a chick who obviously has an Alice in Wonderland fetish down a dark hallway? Laughter seemed to echo throughout the entire building. It was most definitely Mandy, and that gave John all the incentive he needed to make a decision.
Stepping into the darkened hallway, he thought, ‘Well, through the fucking looking glass it is!’ “Hey! Hold up, girl!”
John ran as fast as he could go, but he never could seem to catch up to the girl. Every time he rounded a corner, she was already headed around the next. He ran until battery acid ran through his veins and then he ran some more. He couldn’t believe that he couldn’t catch her. Dear, God! This girl must have run track in high school.
He made another left turn and he could see the girl’s flashlight just a few feet in front of him in the next room. He was almost delirious with joy at the sight of it. He grinned ear from ear, and never noticed that the door way in front of him was built for people under six feet tall. Unfortunately for John, he was six-foot-two. He ran headfirst into the bricks and the world turned black as he collapsed on the ground.
John woke with a terrible throbbing in his head. Instinctively, he reached for the source of his pain and discovered he had a goose egg about the size of a tennis ball on his forehead. “Oh, my God,” he groaned, “did anybody get the license plate number of the truck that hit me?”
He sat up and discovered that the blonde had left her flashlight at his side. He fumbled with it a moment before finally finding the on switch. When the light filled up the room, he screamed.
There were three mutilated bodies on the ground, and in the middle, was his little blonde friend. She was crouched down next to a teenager wearing a cheerleading outfit and was covered in blood from her mouth all the way down to her hips. The cheerleader’s stomach had been cut open and the blonde was digging into her body cavity. She pulled out bits of intestines and tore them into smaller chunks before happily placing them in her mouth and chewing on them. John thought he might puke.
“What are you doing?” he asked with a shaky voice.
The blonde looked up and smiled. “I told you we were going to a party.” She held out her hand, offering a bit of intestine to John. “Would you like some? It’s a little chewy, but once you get past that, it’s actually quite good.” John took a step backwards and noticed there were messages scribbled on the walls in fresh blood.
“The Morning Star has fallen—the light is no more.”
“Paint the world as black as your soul.”
And perhaps the most disturbing: “In my happiest dreams, I’m already dead.” John’s knees got weak and his hands trembled. He had never seen anything quite like it.
John noticed a doorway on the other side of the room. Above the exit were written the words, “Heaven or Hell.” Next to the word “Hell” was an oversized question mark. Heaven or Hell, huh? Can’t be any worse than being stuck in here with ‘Cannibal Jane.’
He waited until the blonde was digging around in the body of the cheerleader again and quickly made his move. He hugged the wall and leaped over the body of a UPS driver who had been carved up like a science experiment. He passed through the doorway as the blonde screamed at him, “Hey! Where are you going? We are just about to have cake and ice cream! Come back!”
There was no way in Hell John was turning around. There had to be a way out of this maze and he was determined to find it. The path took him to a set of stairs leading down and he froze. Last thing I want is to go deeper underground, but do I have a choice?
Humming echoed all around him and Mandy’s voice playfully called out, “Oh, John! You’ve been a very bad boy running away like this. There’s so much more fun to be had!”
John ran down the stairs like the Devil was on his heels. The stairs softly curved to the right, hugging tight the wall they were built beside. As he made the turn, he twisted his ankle and unceremoniously bounced down the last ten feet of the staircase. He landed on level ground with scraped knees, battered elbows, and a very wounded pride.
“Goddamn it!” he moaned as he tried to move. “This has so not been my day.”
He looked up and saw another door. This one was wood, covered in chipped white paint and, most importantly, there was daylight peeking out from underneath it. John smiled. Maybe my luck’s about to change.
He pushed and pulled on the door without success. He then took a step back and rammed his shoulder into it. Again, the door refused to budge. He tried kicking the door open, but with his twisted ankle, that did more damage to himself than the door.
“Shit! Fuck! Damn it!” he shouted in frustration. “I’ve come too far to be stopped now.”
He looked around the room. There were gardening tools propped against the walls, and behind them, an old rusty axe. He took the axe in hand and laughed softly. “I’ve never gone The Shining on a door before, but there’s a first time for everything.”
His first swing cut through but left the door standing. By his third swing, pieces of the door were falling to the ground. John smiled and laughed to himself. He stuck his head through the hole in the door and did his best Jack Nicholson impersonation, “Here’s Johnny, bitches!” He kicked the bottom half of the door until it completely broke free.
He squeezed through the hole in the door, it was a tight fit, but he made it out. He was finally free of the house. He started hobbling for a road in the distance. He managed to work up to a run, in spite of the pain. Every step was agony, but he didn’t care. He’d crawl to get help if he had to.
He made it to the road and tried to get his bearings. The road looked identical to a hundred small country roads that he had been on. He could have been anywhere. He had no clue which direction to go or how far it might be to find help.
Suddenly, a vehicle came around a curve in the distance and John smiled ear to ear. It was a police cruiser. He ran that direction, waving his hands like he was trying to signal an airplane to land. The police car came to a stop and a young deputy stepped out of the vehicle.
The deputy took one look at John and gasped, “Son of a bitch, son! What the hell is going on?”
John desperately grabbed the officer’s shirt. “There’s a crazy bitch in that house. She kidnapped me and my friends.” He started to cry. “She killed my friend Joy with a baseball bat. You’ve got to hurry! My girlfriend is still in there!”
Maybe it was the blood splattered on John or the tone of his voice, but the officer took everything he said very seriously. The officer got on his radio and called for back-up. He sat John down on the hood of his car and said, “You don’t worry, son. Everything is gonna be alright.”
An hour later and there were enough police and ambulances there to completely block the road. John sat impatiently as the police stormed the house. His nerves were shot. He was exhausted, and his only thoughts were of Alicia. Was she still alive? Would she ever be the same even if she was?
A few minutes later and three officers exited the house. Standing in the middle of them, wrapped in a blanket, was Alicia. “Oh my God! She’s okay!”
John started limping through the crowd of police officers, paramedics, and detectives. He started down the driveway and screamed, “Alicia!”
Alicia slowly looked up and for the first time in ages, her eyes glowed. She cast off the blanket and started running at John at a full trot. She reached him and nearly knocked him down as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Baby!” she squealed as the tears rolled down her cheeks.
John rubbed her back and stroked her hair. He fought back his own tears. “I told you I’d come back for you. I wouldn’t leave you in that Hell!”
Alicia pressed her lips to John’s and sighed. “You really are a hero, aren’t you?”
Something in the tone of her voice bothered John. “Wait, what did you say?”
Alicia smiled mischievously. She covered his eyes and whispered, “You really are a hero at heart.” Her voice then terrifyingly changed to that of Mandy’s. “It’s too bad you never made it out of the basement.”
She uncovered his eyes and there he was, still tied to the chair in the basement of horrors. He shook the entire chair as he fought to get free. “No!” he screamed as he started crying uncontrollably. “I was free! I was fucking free!”
Mandy leaned down and whispered in John’s ear. “I told you, either Alicia got the scalpel or you got something much, much worse. You made your choice. Not every wound is physical, my boy. The scars that cannot be seen often cut the deepest. Save your strength, hero. I’ll be back for you later.”
As Mandy walked up the stairs, John screamed, “It’s not fair! I was free!” His voice dropped to a whimper. “I was free...”
A few hours went by and the basement door opened. Molly appeared carrying a tray of food. She glided down the stairs gracefully, almost looking like she was floating. She approached John and sat the tray down on the floor. “The mistress wants your strength up for the ceremony tonight.”
She offered John a bite of a sandwich and he turned his head and refused to eat. Molly rolled her eyes and said, “Fine, have it your way.”
John looked at Molly with desperation in his eyes. “Please, Molly. Help us get out of here. We can’t die like this. We just can’t.”
Molly pursed her lips and folded her arms. “Oh, really? And just why is that?”
“Alicia and I are getting married next year. We want to raise a family. It just can’t end like this.”
Molly scoffed. “So that’s it, huh? That is exactly what is wrong with people today. You think you’re the star of your own goddamn movie while you’re nothing but a bit player in this tragedy we call life. You think God made all of creation just for you.”
Her tone became more sarcastic with every word. “You’re right, John. All of this, all the universe was made just so you could get handjobs beneath the bleachers at school, grow up, get married, and have your two and a half children while living in your white-picket-fenced home. In reality, you’re little more than a pawn in a cosmic game of chess that you’ll never be able to wrap your tiny mind around. You aren’t God’s special creature—you’re nothing more than a plaything for his sick, twisted amusement. You are nothing, and you will die as nothing. The sooner you accept that, the fucking better.”
Mandy’s voice boomed from the top of the stairs, “That’s enough, Molly. We have preparations to do.”
Molly marched up the stairs, but managed to look over her shoulder and shoot one last evil glare in John’s direction. The door shut and John hung his head. Whatever hope he ever had of getting out of here was now completely dead.
A few hours later, the basement door opened and Mandy strutted down the stairs wearing a solid red hooded robe. She had gone to the trouble of applying a copious amount of makeup. Her eyelids and lips were now solid black, which gave John a very uneasy feeling. If he wasn’t terrified, he would have been in awe of her beauty. It’s not every day that one sees a real angel in full gothic makeup.
Without a word, she got to business. She drew a pentagram on the basement floor and carefully placed black candles on all five points. Waving her hand over each candle, they lit, as if by magick. Mandy then removed her hood and turned towards John and Alicia.
In a very calm voice she said, “The time has come, my children. Now, which of you should it be?” She strolled up to John and paused. She smiled wickedly and then moved over to Alicia. She snapped her fingers in front of Alicia’s face, but Alicia kept the same blank stare she’d had since watching Joy being mauled with a baseball bat.
Mandy turned to John and smiled. “Looks like we broke your little girlfriend.” She started pacing as she seemed to be in deep thought. “Hmm, what would be more enjoyable: listening to your screams of agony, or listening to your cries of bereavement as I slaughter the woman you love in front of you?”
John trembled and his heart raced. “Please, Mandy. You don’t have to do this. There has to be another way for you to get home.”
Mandy smirked. “I’m afraid not. I’ve spent centuries looking for a way. I whispered into the ear of Alexander and told him to conquer the world. Nothing. I helped bring about Hitler’s ‘Final Solution,’ and still, Hell ignored my cries. The only way is pure, brutal bloodshed. You should feel honored. One day they will sing of your sacrifice in Hell itself. Now, where was I?” Her eyes glistened. “Oh yes! Killing your little girlfriend!”
Mandy dragged Alicia’s chair into the heart of the pentagram as John begged. “Please! Please, Mandy! Don’t do it! Take me first!”
Mandy paused and smiled in John’s direction. “There you go, playing the chivalrous hero again. I almost admire you, John—almost.”
Mandy held her hands up to the heavens and started her dark prayer. “Oh Lucifer, great Morning Star, fallen prince of Heaven, I call out to you and those who glorify your name! Accept this humble offering as a show of my allegiance. Let her blood open the gate so that I may pass. I wish only to serve you, and to finally go home.”
John’s jaw dropped as Mandy’s hands started to glow a hue of blue. She approached Alicia and pulled her arm back like she was cocking a gun to fire. In one, sudden motion she rammed her hand into Alicia’s chest.
Oh, my fucking God!
She rummaged around in the wound for a moment before plucking Alicia’s heart from her chest. John pissed his pants as Mandy’s teeth transformed into what resembled vampire fangs. She bit into Alicia’s heart and blood sprayed everywhere. In a matter of seconds, she had ingested the entire organ. With her right foot, she kicked over Alicia’s chair and turned to John. She smiled, her face covered in his girlfriend’s blood, and said, “Looks like it’s your turn, hero.”
Suddenly the entire house shook. Dust fell from the ceiling and cracks formed in the walls of the basement. The air behind Mandy began to distort, twist, and swirl until a circle of darkness formed out of nowhere. A dark-haired man stepped out of the darkness and said softly, “Mandelyn?”
Mandy turned and ran to the man. She wrapped her arms around his neck and squealed, “Azrael!” before planting on open-mouth kiss on him. “You’ve come for me?”
Azrael smiled. “Lucifer has deemed you worthy to join us. You’ve killed enough, my love. It’s time to come home.”
Mandy looked towards the top of the stairs. “I have to get Molly. I promised her we’d go together.”
Azrael grabbed Mandy by the arm and shook his head. “There’s no time, Mandelyn. The portal will only be open just a few seconds. We have to go.”
Mandy looked back and forth between the portal and the stairs. She finally looked at Azrael and nodded. She took his hand and said, “Let’s go home.” They stepped through the portal hand-in-hand and the black circle disappeared as quickly as it had formed.
The basement door swung open and Molly came running down the stairs. “What happened?” she asked as she looked around the room frantically. “Where’s the mistress of the house? What have you done to her?”
There was a fire in Molly’s eyes that made John uneasy. “Hey, hey...I didn’t do anything. Some black portal thingy formed and a guy came out of it. She went with him. He said they were going home.”
Molly began to shake with rage. “She went without me.” She walked to the table and flipped it over, sending knives and other tools of torture flying through the air. “She fucking abandoned me!”
She turned to John and a chill ran down his spine. She looked absolutely mad, like something in her mind had snapped. She lunged at John and screamed, “It’s your fault, Nicky!”
“Wh—what?”
“You couldn’t just leave well enough alone could you? You couldn’t leave me to die. Noooooo, you had to turn me, curse me with this eternal life where everyone and everything I love goes away!”
She sat down on the ground and began crying tears of blood. “I know it’s my fault. I let Tessa talk me into leaving you. She abandoned me a year later. She said I wasn’t good enough for her. Why did I listen to her? I knew you were the one who truly loved me, and I walked away from you like a fool.”
Oh my God. This chick has completely flipped her wig. Who the fuck is Nicky?
Molly crawled on the ground to John. She wrapped her arms around his leg as the bloody tears rolled down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry, Nicky. Will you ever forgive me?”
Oh shit! What do I do? Should I just go with it? Okay, here goes nothing.
John took a deep breath and said, “I forgive you, Molly. Now, can you please get me out of this chair?”
Molly looked up at John with adoration in her eyes. “Oh, Nicky! You’ve made me so—”
She stopped mid-sentence and her mood turned on a dime. She wrinkled her brow and rage danced in her eyes. “I know what you’ve done, Nicky. I know about your precious little mortal Sadie. You replaced me, Nicky! How could you do that? We were married! I was your Dark Bride! You promised to love me forever!”
Molly dropped a pair of fangs and her fingernails grew out to form talons as John tried to scoot the chair away from her as quickly as possible. “Hey! Calm down, Molly! I didn’t do anything. I don’t even know who Sadie is.”
Molly screamed, “Liar!” and slashed John across the face. Blood flew across the room and splattered against the wall. With a mad gleam in her eyes, Molly hissed, “If you thought Mandy was bad, you haven’t seen anything yet.”
Mephistopheles smiled quite wickedly at you. “My, my, my...there’s nothing like a case of mistaken identity and the absolute horror when a beautiful mind snaps. Alas, poor Molly. Once so pure and virtuous, broken by centuries of neglect and regret. It just goes to show that angels aren’t the only ones that can fall from grace. If I was Nicky, I’d sleep with one eye open at night, for Hell hath no fury like a female vampyre scorned.
“And poor John and his friends. All they wanted was to go home. Oddly enough, that’s all Mandy wanted as well. I love it when fate has an ironic sense of humor like that. It warms this Fallen Angel’s cold, black heart.
“So, what did we learn today, children? The next time you use that little app on your phone to call for a ride, think twice. The person at the wheel could very well be the Devil himself.”
Meph raised a glass of brandy and said, “Until next time, my darlings, this is Mephistopheles sending his love. And remember, if you need a favor, just call. Unlike Heaven, I’m even open on Christmas and Easter. Tata for now.”
Other HellBound Books Titles
Available at: www.hellboundbookspublishing.com
The Cabin Sessions
A CONFRONTING, HARD-hitting, dark psychological thriller told with acid wit. Themes of abuse are explored through minds distorted by fear and corrupted by hatred and delusion; this is a tale in which redemption is gained in unexpected ways.
It's Christmas Eve when hapless musician Adam Banks stands on the bridge over the river that cleaves the isolated village of Burton. A storm is rolling into the narrow mountain pass. He thinks of turning back. Instead, he resolves to fulfil his obligation to perform the guest spot at The Cabin Sessions. He should be looking forward to it, but fear stirs when he opens the door on the Cabin's incense-choked air
Philip Stone is already there, brooding. He observes with a ruthless eye the regulars, from sleazy barmaid Hannah Fisher, to old crone Cynthia Morgan. Meanwhile, Philip's sister, Eva, prepares to take a bath. It¿s a ritual - she's a breath holder. At twenty-eight, Eva has returned to Burton to finish the business of her past, as memories begin to surface concerning one fateful day by the river and the innocence of her beloved brother...
The Amnesia Girl
FILLED WITH COPIOUS amounts of black humor, Gerri R. Gray's first published novel is an offbeat adventure story that could be described as One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest meets Thelma and Louise.
Flashback to 1974. Farika is a lovely young woman who wakes up one day to find herself a patient in a bizarre New York City psychiatric asylum. She has no idea who she is, and possesses no memories of where she came from nor how she got there.
Fearing for her life after being attacked by a berserk girl with over one hundred personalities and a vicious nurse with sadistic intentions, the frightened amnesiac teams up with an audacious lesbian with a comically unbalanced mind, and together they attempt a daring escape.
But little do they know that a long strange journey into an even more insane world filled with a multitude of perilous predicaments and off-kilter individuals are waiting for them on the outside. Farika's weird reality crumbles when she finally discovers who, and what, she really is!
Psychological Breakdown
By
David Owain Hughes
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WITHIN THIS TOME LIES eighteen tales of mind-bending terror, as Hughes delves into the human psyche and dishes out stories of what becomes of the broken minded, spirited and downright irked.
Part these blood-drenched pages at your own peril, for you will find diseased minds geared towards revenge and bloody chaos, with a few twists, turns and surprises thrown in for good, fucked-up measures.
––––––––
Keep the lights on!
Worship Me
SOMETHING IS LISTENING to the prayers of St. Paul's United Church, but it's not the god they asked for; it's something much, much older.
A quiet Sunday service turns into a living hell when this ancient entity descends upon the house of worship and claims the congregation for its own. The terrified churchgoers must now prove their loyalty to their new god by giving it one of their children or in two days time it will return and destroy them all.
As fear rips the congregation apart, it becomes clear that if they're to survive this untold horror, the faithful must become the faithless and enter into a battle against God itself. But as time runs out, they discover that true monsters come not from heaven or hell...
...they come from within.
No Rest For The Wicked
A MODERN DAY GHOST story with its skeletons buried firmly in the past.
From beyond the grave, a murderous wife seeks to complete her revenge on those who betrayed her in life; a powerless domestic still fears for her immortal soul while trying to scare off anyone who comes too close; and the former plantation master - a sadistic doctor who puts more faith in the teachings of de Sade than the Bible
When Eric and Grace McLaughlin purchase Greenbrier Plantation, their dreams are just as big as those who have tried to tame the place before them. But, the doctor has learned a thing or two over his many years in the afterlife, is putting those new skills to the test, and will go to great lengths in order to gain the upper hand. While Grace digs into the death-filled history of her new home, Eric soon becomes a pawn of the doctor's unsavory desires and rapidly growing power, and is hell-bent on stopping her.
Blood and Kisses
THE DEFINITIVE SHORT story collecting from James H Longmore - an eclectic mix of dark horror, bizarro and Twilight-Zone style tales of the downright disturbing.
Welcome to the long awaited collection from the writer of horror novels 'Pede and Tenebrion; a forword by Richard Chizmar (co-author of Gwendy's Button Box and author of A Long December), 18 short stories, 5 flash fiction and even a poem - all skin-crawling, soul-shredding tales of terror, of the darkest things that skulk amongst the night's inky shadows, and of the everyday gone horribly awry.
Discover the alternative implication of technology becoming self-aware, enjoy the acquaintance of a charismatic new pastor who promises his flock a brand new place in which to worship his God, and spend a little time in the company of a nice young man who is inexorably caught up in his home town's terrible secret. Then there is Cupid's revelation that personally he has never experienced love, yet we discover that very emotion alive and not so well amongst the ruins of a post zombie apocalypse world, and we bear witness to a childhood innocence forever destroyed in a war-torn city. There is more, Dear Reader, much, much more; for within these pages we have devils, demons and ghosts, lycanthropes and demi-gods, all rubbing nefarious shoulders with vilest of Hell's offspring who have slithered from the netherworld to doff their caps and wish us all the sweetest of dreams...
A HellBound Books LLC
Publication
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