It didn’t take long for the two of us to arrive in the middle of a large central chamber that was full of cages, cells, and exotic torture equipment. There was also a fireplace, couch, and bear skin rug with a fridge that told me this was the sort of place that Fraternity members relaxed in. It was a dungeon, but it was the kind of high-end, expensive dungeon that only the ultra-rich could afford and would use to experience the joys of making fellow human beings suffer.
Monstrous, the Spirit of the Hunt whispered. There’s no fun in it if the victims can’t fight back. It’s just a buffet for those too lazy to give a real offering to the Red Gods.
I didn’t respond. I was focused on the two groups in the center of the room. The first group was Nancy and the TAA Sorority sisters. They hadn’t gotten far from the caverns before being captured. They were surrounded by at least a dozen more Sons of Mars mercenaries, though I was less worried about them than the figure at the foot of them.
The figure on the ground was a dirty brown stained teddy bear with button eyes, one of them mismatched, with a box cutter in hand. The teddy bear smelled from across the room, of blood and other substances that made me think it hadn’t been washed in years. It was filthy and worn but still radiated an unearthly power that bothered me as it felt very similar to the Spirit of the Hunt’s. Sewn in red thread on its tummy was a little trident that I took to be like the Mark of Cain. It was Lucky Tom Lee, the serial-killer possessed toy.
If you found the concept of a possessed toy less than frightening, I wouldn’t blame you. Lucky had been a slasher in life who my father had worked with on occasion, killing women across the country. Lucky preferred mothers and daughters compared to my father’s preference for coeds. In the end, he’d ended up captured and executed by mundane authorities. Supposedly, the warden had ignored the orders of the state to turn the electric chair on for an hour until it took.
Unfortunately, like Billy, death had not held Lucky long and he’d become a ghost. Except, he was a ghost that inhabited toys. It would be ludicrous if not for the fact that such things gave him access to places other slashers had to break into. I had an alien view of slashers, lacking the repulsion normal society had for most of my kind, but something about Lucky’s preying on the young angered me in a way I couldn’t really put into words.
“Two…One,” Lucky said, finishing his murderous countdown.
“We’re here,” I said, raising my hands.
“Yeah,” Summer said, following me.
“Oh gosh darnit,” Nancy muttered, covering her face.
“See, I told you that they’d do it,” the blonde girl named Jenna said.
Jenna handed her a five-dollar bill. “Here ya go.”
The soldiers turned their guns on us as we entered while the teddy bear let out a very human-sounding chortle. “You made a sucker’s bet, Nancy. I always know when they’re going to come. Don’t shoot them. They’d just wake up pissed. To kill ’em both we’d gotta do some old-fashioned Satanic juju. But first we gotta call the Boss.”
Boss? Interesting. I wasn’t aware the Fraternity of Orion had a leader. I’d just assumed the various slashers had shared its leadership or the Cassidy brothers ran things.
“You were serious,” Summer said, looking down at Lucky. “He’s an actual teddy bear.”
“And they changed it for the movies!” Lucky said, waving his box cutter. “They turned me into a Cabbage Patch kid! Can you believe that?”
I looked down at him. “I think it’s an improvement personally. How are you even holding that thing?”
“Magic,” Lucky said, waving his box cutter at me. “Well if it isn’t Billy Patrick Junior. How is dear old Dad?”
“Dead,” I said. “For good this time.”
Nancy smirked.
“Pity,” Lucky said. “He and I had some great times together.”
“So, you’re one of the Fraternity’s founders?” I asked, disgusted.
The Sons of Mars mercenaries looked nervous about the casual way that Lucky was addressing us. I could feel their heartbeats and sensed their nervousness, but Lucky’s presence nearly to drown them all out. Even then, I could tell this bunch was a particularly vile collection of humanity. Kidnappings, rapes, torture, and executions were on all their souls. These individuals had brought many men and women to the compound above, they thought of it as an arena, and disposed of the acquisitions with the guests. A few of them were also white supremacists, which surprised me by being important enough for my power to detect as a reason to kill them. One would have thought being members of a murder-sex cult would have been enough.
“Yep,” Lucky said, rubbing his thread nose with his arm. “Not entirely satisfied with what the Cassidy brothers gave us. Never trust an Irishman with a deal. Still, I got some juice out of it. The others got much better deals. I think you’ll appreciate what Mike can do nowadays.”
“Uh-huh,” I said.
“Besides, there’s the benefit of having them tie down my victims for me now. Service with a smile,” Lucky said. “Especially babies. God, I hate babies. Too bad you picked the wrong side, Junior. I’ve had a long time to learn every part on a man’s body that can make them bleed out. I’m also freaking invulnerable.”
“Does he ever shut up?” Summer asked.
“No,” I replied.
“He’s been at this since he caught us,” Nancy said, standing protectively in front of her sorority sisters. “At one point he gave us, in vivid detail, descriptions of what his penis used to look like.”
“It was glorious. Belonged in the record books. Where’s your sister, Junior?” Lucky replied. “Tell me and I’ll put in a good word for you with the Boss Lady. You can kill one of the Wicked Bitches of the West Coast here and join us. You can be the Janitor or something. I’m sure we can stick you on a Blockbuster shelf somewhere.”
“The Accountant,” I replied.
“You look like a janitor,” Lucky said.
“I’m working on a spinoff,” I replied, working on buying time. Gerald should have created our distraction several minutes ago and I was worried he’d been caught. It was a needless feeling since I heard a rumbling above us that very instant. That was when all the lights in the basement went out. Gerald’s distraction and not a moment too soon. The only light in the otherwise pitch-black room came from the fireplace.
“Shoot them!” Lucky shouted.
I was already moving to push the weapons of the nearest mercenary to shoot into the man closest to him, causing the soldiers to start shooting at each other. I felt a burst of bullets knock off a bit of my right arm, causing immense pain as well as a surging bloodlust. I didn’t know what I did for the next few seconds, but my hands were covered in gore while a good half of the mercenaries were dead at my hands.
Much to my surprise, the rest of the mercenaries were being attacked en masse by the sorority sisters. They had all moved to attack the moment the lights had gone out, including Nancy and Summer. The I had no idea if they were in danger or what their conditions were but I felt multiple more mercs die. The Fraternity of Orion had clearly brought the wrong sorority sisters to prey on, perhaps the only rebellion the mind-controlled Cassandra Cassidy could perform.
Or maybe the sweetest prey is the most dangerous, the Spirit of the Hunt whispered. Behind you.
“What?” I said, right before Lucky leapt on my back.
“Surprise mother sucker!” Lucky shouted. Actually, he might have said something different, but my ears were ringing from all the close gunfire. That was when he started stabbing me in the back of my shoulder blades and back with his box cutter.
The pain in my shoulders was like burning cinders being shoved into my injuries. I fell to my knees even as I grabbed at Lucky and threw him on the ground. The two of us were illuminated by the fireplace even as I could feel the blood spilling around us. The death strengthened me and made me stand up despite the injuries.
“Damn, boy, what do you eat?” Lucky asked, sounding surprised. “The Boss’ breeding program always struck me as some Nazi nonsense, but you are a super slasher. Makes me want do a sieg heil.”
I had no idea what he was talking about. “The Nazis hated the mentally ill. I hate them.”
“We ain’t crazy, Junior,” Lucky said, somehow looking menacing with his little button eyes. “In fact, I’d say we’re the sanest people around.”
“My only friend was,” I replied, not bothering to argue with the child-murderer further.
Lucky reached out his paw and somehow an assault rifle dragged itself across the ground into his hands…err paws. The comically large weapon in its paws was enough to temporarily distract me before I realized he was going to hit me with the grenade launcher at its bottom. “Hasta La Vista, Baby.”
“You’re still a frigging bear,” I said, punting the teddy bear’s head clean off.
“Hey, no fair!” Lucky shouted about five feet from his body that swung around the assault rifle wildly, firing in the air before I grabbed it from him.
I lifted the teddy bear’s body by its leg then hurled it into the fireplace before shutting down a metal grate. I promptly turned the gas up and Lucky’s body began thrashing around in the inferno.
Lucky’s head bounced around on its leaking fluff. “Hey! I needed that.”
The emergency lights turned on and illuminated the room in a warm shade of red. Much to my surprise, all the sorority sisters seemed to be alive with one of the Heathers double tapping the last of the mercenaries. Somehow, they’d all managed to come through it unscathed while taking advantage of my distraction. Well, almost unscathed as Summer was holding her stomach and looked like she’d been shot. I could sense that she’d been mortally injured for a normal woman and would have been crippled for life if she survived. Thankfully, she wasn’t, and I could see her injuries heal moment by moment. It looked excruciatingly painful, enough. Nancy was leaning over her, holding her hand.
“It’s going to be alright,” Nancy said.
“Shut up and carry me out of here!” Summer said.
“Ah, the love of sisters,” I muttered. I still had to find mine, though, and had no idea where she or Gerald were. Honestly, and I wasn’t proud of it, I was alright with the prospect of leaving the vampire behind if I could get my sister out. However, he had her dog and that would never fly with her. It wasn’t a matter of hating the undead, it was simply that most people didn’t matter to me. I was here for the TAA sisters because Nancy cared for them and any help that I gave Gerald would be to please my sister. I wondered if most people only cared about others through a spider web of relationships or if it was a flaw in my bloodline.
Mind you, I was also appalled by the sight of at least half of the mercenaries’ bodies that looked like they’d had their necks broken, bodies folded in half, and sometimes heads ripped off. That was enough to reach past my cold and unfeeling spirit to horrify me—at least a little. Had I done that?
Yes, my child, you did, the Spirit of the Hunt whispered. I have never been so proud of you.
Your approval fills me with shame, I replied, wondering if that would ever become a saying somewhere.
The Spirit of the Hunt chuckled. The Red Gods have fed well because of you. Me especially. You have served your purpose.
What? I asked.
“Hey, a little help here,” Lucky said, angling his severed head up at me.
I looked down at him. “Why in the world would I help you?”
Lucky shrugged or tried to. It was hard to shrug when you didn’t have shoulders. It was more like his head scrunched up a bit. “Old times sake?”
“No thank you,” I said, before pausing. “But I might if you tell me who the Boss is.”
Lucky looked surprised or maybe I was reading too much into a pair of button eyes and dirty cloth. “Wow, kid, you have no idea what’s going on. In any case, I’ll see you later.”
“What?” I asked.
The teddy bear head went silent and I blinked. Reaching over. I picked up the dormant piece of cloth then frowned. His spirit had left the item and I cursed under my breath. The bear had never been anything more than a receptacle for his spirit and now he was going to go off to kill again.
He will need time to reform, the Spirit of the Hunt said. But if you want to destroy him permanently, then you need to help me.
No, I said. No.
I tried to feel Mike’s presence but couldn’t sense it. There was a dark and eerie fuzz about the place even as I looked at my hand and saw it was now displaying Roman thirteen. The mark was blackened like it was branded into my flesh and had red cracks through it.
Nancy helped her sister to her feet, Summer’s stomach injury almost healed. She also had a handful of deformed rifle rounds in her right hand. It was another sign of just how powerful the Artemises were. Or at least these two.
“We need to go,” Nancy said, holding her sister up by her shoulder. “You’ve managed to come through repeatedly for us, William, but we’re not going to be able to pull any more rabbits out of our hats.”
I looked at her. “I can’t leave without my sister.”
Nancy stared and sighed. “Summer, I’m going to need you to go take the others out on your own.”
“What?” Summer asked.
“I think they’re in love!” the huge schoolgirl, Shinobu, said. She clapped her hands together. “So romantic!”
Summer glared at Shinobu.
“Listen, you can’t risk your life for a slasher that is almost certainly dead—” Summer said.
“She’s not—” I started to say.
“Bark! Bark!” Cujo said, causing me to do a double take.
“Who is dead?” Carrie asked, walking through the door with her dog under her arm as well as the Necronomicon. Standing behind her was Gerald Saint Croix, several bullet holes in his attire without any visible sign of injury.
I blinked. “Well, that proved distressingly easy. Is it just me or is everyone here much better at rescuing themselves than being rescued?”
“Was I needing to be rescued?” Carrie asked, blinking.
“Is Cassandra dead?” Nancy asked, looking over at Carrie.
“Please say yes,” Summer said, looking more able to stand on her feet with every passing second. Mind you, I wouldn’t put her at fighting trim just yet, but the fact she’d been shot in the stomach with a three round burst and was almost ready to walk on her own was nothing short of a miracle by itself.
Carrie shook her head. “Unfortunately, no. I managed to stab her leg a bit, but she managed to get in the panic room. Not with the book, though. Didn’t even hit an artery.”
“What a waste of blood,” Gerald said, sadly.
“I guess we can leave then,” I said, fully expecting a bunch of mercenaries or slashers to descend on us at any moment. Instead, nothing was happening and that caused me more worry than the opposite.
“You didn’t happen to pass by Mike Miner on the way through the mansion’s halls, did you?” I asked. “I mean, you must have in order to get Gerald.”
Carrie frowned. “Yeah, about that, we have a big problem.”
I stared at her. “A bigger problem than being in the dungeon of an evil cult?”‘
“Much bigger,” Carrie said.
That was when I heard the whine of the intercom turning on again before a smooth husky feminine voice spoke on the other side. “The sorority girls can leave as can the Artemises. The Wild Hunt has been fulfilled. You have stalked and offered the yearly tithe to the Red Gods in record time. William and Carrie will reap the rewards of what you have sewn. For that, though, I want you to stay and speak with me.”
“Oh hell,” I said, recognizing the voice. “It’s her.”
Summer looked at Nancy confused before Nancy looked at me.
“Who is she?” Nancy asked.
“Our mother,” Carrie answered for me. “Yeah, I was sort of let go by Mike. It turns out Mom’s is the boss around here.”