“Let’s just ask him.”
Dilly’s upper lip raised like a snarling dog at Milly’s suggestion. “No. Why? Do you think he knows more than I do?”
Milly had been sitting in the corner of the room, but now she stood up and approached Dilly. “No, of course not. He’s nothing compared to us. Compared to you.” She brushed her hand down the other old woman’s cheek. “But you have to admit, he has the gift. We’ve had fourteen successful recoveries out of fourteen attempts since we brought him into our employ. You know how rare that is, and you know that kind of gift comes with a certain…intuition.”
“I don’t know that I would call all fourteen a complete success.” A new, unfamiliar voice echoed from behind my view. The voice was watery and indistinct, as though someone was talking while drowning, as strange an idea as that was. I sensed movement and couldn’t suppress a scream when the thing came into view.
Half of its face was human, though patchy and scaled over in spots. The other half was a ruin of gray-green twisted with contours like a mountain range on some alien world. Worse, that side of his face was always in subtle motion as several small crimson worms moved ceaselessly between dark pockets in the flesh. The man creature was wearing a sweatshirt, but poking out of one arm hole was something that looked more like a petrified tree branch than any kind of working hand. Still, as I watched, the monster hand flexed and moved, the skin splitting in a dozen places with every motion, leaking some dark corruption for a moment before healing back again. I tried to turn away, but Dilly grabbed my face and held me fast with surprising strength.
“You just keep making noises, don’t you? Interrupting. And now you’ve been rude to my brother. I think exsanguination is the only real answer here.”
Milly stepped forward. “Dilly, stop.” She turned to look at the monster. “Peter, your…changes were due to your predilections, not a flaw with Teddy or your doll. We’ve been over this. You…overindulged in certain things, didn’t you? And they became a part of you.”
The creature called Peter took a couple of threatening steps towards Milly with a crooked gait. “You need to shut up now.” He turned to look at his sister. “Dilly, you need to shut her up before I lose control.”
But Milly pressed on. “You felt ashamed of your vices, didn’t you? Ashamed of what you had become. You thought of yourself as a monster, so that’s what you became. It’s your fault, no one elses.”
He let out a bellow of rage and raised his fist to strike Milly, but suddenly he froze still.
“You’d raise a hand to me? Even at your best you were not our equal.” Peter flew back as though he had been shoved, his body sounding like it bounced off a far wall out of view before landing with a thud. Dilly let out a small cry and ran over to him.
“How could you? You know how he gets. He’s very sensitive about what happened to him. About his…urges. You were goading him.”
Milly’s expression was hard. “No, I’m just tired of treating him like the baby he acts like. He’s not dead. But I won’t have him getting in our way with his tantrums any longer, you understand? You control him or next time I’ll pull his head off like a maypop.” She reached into a pocket and pulled out her cell phone. “And I’m calling Teddy. I’m tired of coddling you as well.”
My head was swimming with everything I had just seen, and I was trying to simultaneously process it all while searching for some way out of this. Then I heard Uncle Teddy’s voice over the speakerphone.
“Hey there, Millicent. How’s my favorite girl?”
Milly’s face had changed as soon as she had dialed his number, and it brightened further at his words. “Oh hush, you flirt. I’m doing good. Just here trying to decide what to do with your wayward niece. I’m afraid to kill her, but Dilly thinks it will be fine as long as we store the blood properly.”
There was a brief pause before he answered. “Well, I’m not the expert, of course, so I’m just going with my gut here. But I think Cordelia is right on this one. In fact, I think it might be a mistake to keep her alive. Every time we’ve done the ritual, the blood kin was a willing participant. I’d be afraid that if she’s forced to participate or still alive at all, her contrary intent might taint the offering. Where as if she’s dead, the offering becomes neutral with no intervening or contrary will to counterbind it.”
Dilly had walked back into view, her hands stained with more of the black ichor perpetually dripping from her brother. “That’s what I said. But you know Milly, she’s always so hard headed.”
Teddy was giving a light laugh when Milly cut him off. “Teddy, how do you know about counterbound offerings?”
His laughter trailed off. “What? Oh, Darrow gave me a couple of books over the years. My foreign language skills aren’t quite up to snuff, but I’ve made out a little of it. Did I use the term wrong?”
Milly’s brow was still furrowed, but then Teddy spoke up again. “I wish you wouldn’t tease me, Millicent. I know I don’t know much, but I do try to learn from all of you.” His voice sounded hurt and slightly petulant. It made Milly smile again.
“No, Teddy, you are a gift to us all. I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to tease you. And you used the term just fine.” Dilly was rolling her eyes and Milly shot her a dark look. “You’ve been of great help to us in this too. And thank you again for telling us about Myers. I always knew there was something about that man. Very off-putting.”
My uncle’s voice was warm again. “Yeah, I just hate it came to that. He was my friend for years, but there’s no way I could go along with what he was suggesting. For my sake and for yours.” He let out a small sigh. “Anyway, on to happier topics. Ya’ll going to be here tomorrow night for the party, right?”
Milly grinned wider, her cheeks coloring. “We wouldn’t miss it for anything.”
“Good, good. Say, is my niece there?”
She laughed, looking down at me. “Oh, she’s here. If looks could kill, as they say. I think she’s a tiny bit miffed with you.”
Uncle Teddy chuckled slightly. “I bet. Hey, Cora. Sorry it worked out this way, but that’s the way it goes sometimes, yeah? I wish you’d left like you were supposed to. It’s kind of your fault you’re in this mess, and now these nice ladies have to clean up behind you.” I thought he was finished, but then he went on. “Still, I meant what I said. You were a nice little girl. When you get where you’re going, remember that poem I wrote you. If you feel yourself getting too scared, say it and maybe it’ll make you feel a bit better. “ Another pause and then, “Milly, I’ve got caterers beating down my door wanting to do prelim setup, so I have to go. See ya’ll tomorrow night!”
When Milly hung up, Dilly started back in on her immediately.
“I don’t trust that slick little fucker. Not one bit.”
It was Milly’s turn to roll her eyes. “I don’t see why not. To the extent anyone is trustworthy, he’s shown himself to be pretty reliable. When Myers approached him at the door and Teddy didn’t turn this one over right away, when he supposedly threatened all of us, I admit I was a bit concerned as well.” Dilly let out a snort, but Milly ignored it and continued. “But when he called me and told me about what Myers had suggested--Teddy letting him come back the next day to get and keep the girl, so he could gain standing and leverage over the rest of us…well, I didn’t believe it at first either. But then Teddy promised to turn her over to us.” She gestured towards me. “And there the girl lay, delivered like a holiday turkey.”
Scowling, Dilly wagged a finger at the other woman. “Convenient. And Myers was a slime, but he didn’t have the balls to do this. To go against all of us? Please.”
Milly shrugged. “Well, I’d say you should go ask him, but…”
Dilly’s frown deepened. “And that’s another thing. He just happens to kill himself the next day? His doll destroyed and scattered next to his body? We don’t do suicide, particularly without a doll in place. That kind of defeats the whole purpose of all this Teddy bullshit. So how does that make sense?”
Milly glared at her. “He was a drug addict. A pillhead. Had been for several years now. And shockingly, that’s what he used to kill himself. Who knows why he did it? Maybe he was crazy or hopped up. I don’t care. What I do care about is keeping our dollmaker somewhat happy and keeping him around for a long time. So just take the win. We got the girl. We’re going to kill her like you wanted. Now just shut up and let’s get to work.”
Dilly retreated slightly under Milly’s gaze, finally nodding reluctantly. “Fine. I hope you’re right. Not that you care, but Peter’s back is broken. It will probably take a month for it to regenerate fully.”
Milly grabbed her arm, her tone softer. “I’m sorry about that. But he does have to learn not to get in our way. Now let’s get her drained and get some sleep. Tomorrow is a big day.”
“You know, Hell isn’t what it’s cracked up to be anymore. It’s a lot worse.” Dilly wasn’t looking at my face, instead watching the lines they had put in my arms slowly pull the blood from my body. It had hurt at first, and they weren’t gentle about it, but now I felt like I was floating. They had moved on to the third container in collecting the blood, and I had a feeling I would be dead soon. Milly had left to attend to something else after they had the process started, and some men had come in and drug Peter the monster out soon thereafter. So it was just me and Dilly, and she had decided to lecture me on the place I was heading to so soon.
“When Hell was first created, some of its first inhabitants were fallen angels, with Lucifer in charge for the most part. He set up the first kingdom of Hell, and it was remarkably orderly in its way. But then something new came to Hell.”
“This new creature…it didn’t want order or a kingdom. It just wanted to hunt and kill. The demons and other denizens of Hell, they started to fear it more than Lucifer. They called it the Hunter. No one knew much about it. There were rumors that it had been exiled into Hell from another realm by an entity called the Baron, but it was all frightened whispers in the dark. What Lucifer knew for sure was that it was killing his strongest demons and they weren’t coming back.”
“Because that’s supposed to be the deal in Hell, right? You can be tortured and killed, but you always come back, ready for more. Not if the Hunter got you though. You were just gone--to where, no one knew, but its safe to say its as bad or worse than the place you just left. Because the Hunter’s methods may be simple, but he is not. He’s not a dumb animal and he’s not easily tricked. As Lucifer found out.”
“Lucifer tracked the Hunter easily--he wasn’t trying to hide, and wherever he went, the landscape changed into dark and terrible woods. But this wasn’t concerning to Lucifer. It was still his realm overall, and he wielded considerable power there. He set traps, he summoned armies, and he prepared himself for battle. And then he started to sing.”
Even in my light-headed state, my expression must have looked confused, because Dilly gave me a small, cold smile.
“Oh, I know what you’re thinking. But music has a great deal of power, and Lucifer was skilled in its use. It’s thought that he intended to trap the Hunter in the magic of his song and then bring the full weight of Hell down on top of him until he was wholly obliterated. But Lucifer was used to fighting other angels and tormenting souls. He didn’t understand what the Hunter really was, because no one did. And that’s what killed him.”
“The Hunter walked through his song like it was nothing. He flung aside the Devil’s armies until the few demons that were left fled in terror. Then it was just Lucifer, the brightest angel, blazing on top of a hill of skulls and rotting flesh, ready to face down the usurper.” Dilly looked almost star-struck at the image, crazy hag that she was. “But…it didn’t work. The Hunter was faster and stronger than him. More powerful. His infernal magics barely had any effect at all on the creature, yet his flesh would begin to wither at the Hunter’s touch. Time is a strange thing in Hell, or so I’ve heard, but by all accounts it was a short fight. And in the end, Lucifer’s fire was extinguished.”
I had started to fade out and Dilly slapped me hard. “Wake up. Don’t be rude. I’m giving you facts about your impending destination before you land.” She let out a nasty chuckle. “So you can appreciate it more. The least you can…” I tried to keep my eyes open, but everything was so far away now. And then I was
In a dark forest. The sound of ice cracking on branches echoed off to my left and I jumped, looking out into the fog and trees that faded into blackness in every direction. I was naked, but my body seemed healthy and whole. But the air was freezing, and as I stood up, I winced in pain at the rocks biting into my bare feet.
Shivering, I tried to look up past the trees for stars or moonlight, but there was nothing. I listened out for any kind of noise, but the only sound was the stark wind cutting through the trees above me. It made the leaves tremble and rattle, and the sound made me feel utterly terrified and alone. I didn’t know what to do. Where to go. I thought about just sitting back down where I was, as at least I wasn’t being attacked so far staying here… but then I heard it.
Whistling. High, clear notes from someone whistling as they approached me from out in the dark. Somehow that sound was a thousand times worse than the trees or the cold or anything in my imagination. I understood at my soul’s core that it was the train whistle of unending pain and oblivion.
So I ran. And the thing behind me [followed].
---
Credits
Comments