by P. K. Tyler
Her body accepted the large hunk of wax instantly, contracting around it and pulling it in deeper. She worked the candle quickly, digging her nails into the base so she could keep a firm grip.
Delphina turned her hand so that the top of her pussy rubbed against her wrist as she rode the candle, stroking herself inside and out.
She came, shuddering and shaking.
It wasn't enough. God help me.
She brought her slickened candle back to bed with her, oblivious to what could have possibly caused her sudden lapse in judgment. And not really caring, either way.
Lost to her dreams and her candle, her lover's fingers played with one nipple as the darkness deep within brought Delphina to climax again and again.
Chapter Eight
Nik left Father Losado's Church and headed for Zeph's, pulling his cell phone out on the way to call ahead.
"Dude, are you still sleeping?" Nik said when Zeph finally picked up his cell.
"Nikolai..." Zeph's voice had a darkness to it. The kind that came over him when he was deep in thought, or prayer.
The sound set the hair on the back of Nik's neck on end. "What happened?"
"I'm uptown at the morgue in Washington Heights."
"What? Why all the way up there?"
"One of my parishioners was found dead this morning beneath an underpass. He had no family, the Emergency Contact in his phone was the Church Office. Nik... the other night, what did the guy you exorcised look like?"
"What could that matter?"
"It's just..."
"What aren't you telling me? Zeph, don't fuck around! Do you think I did something to that guy?"
"He has a smear of blood around a raised blister on his forehead, but no wound. They don't think the blood is his."
Nik dropped his hand and stared at the phone. What was Zeph suggesting? That he'd done something to this person? He'd never hurt anyone, not intentionally. Sure a few dislocated shoulders or broken ankles in the struggle, but all to save people. He wasn't a killer.
"Nik?" Zeph's distant voice drifted up from the phone and Nik returned it to his ear. "I came and got you in Brooklyn, this can't be the same person. If you somehow did do something to him, there's no way he'd have made it up to the Heights. Not that you did... it has to be something else. Right?"
"I'm coming up there."
"I don't think that's a good idea... "
"Shut up. I'm coming up there. I didn't kill anyone. I have to see. It might not even be the same guy!" Hysteria crept into Nik's voice.
"Yeah, maybe." Zeph's doubt crept through the phone like a poisoned spider.
Nik hung up and hailed a cab, hoping there was enough money in his account to cover the cost, but he couldn't take the time to ride the trains. He had to know what happened, and he needed to know now.
At the morgue, the cabbie charged Nik an exorbitant rate that he didn't even bother arguing. He rushed inside and waited in the florescent lights of the reception area. Plastic chairs had been placed in small sitting areas. An attempt to make the most horrific place on earth seem welcoming.
"Hello?" he called, leaning his head through the open plastic window that separated an office area from the waiting room. His voice reverberated against the hard concrete walls, making him feel more alone than ever before.
No one came rushing out to greet him. He felt like he was going insane, like he had when he'd first seen someone possessed. The first time he saw the mask of evil superimposed on the features of an otherwise completely ordinary individual.
It had been his fourth-grade teacher and he'd been ten years old. When he told his foster father, he'd taken him to church, and tried to make him confess to lying and saying awful things about another person. When he refused to take back what he'd seen, his foster father beat the crap out of him for lying and took him out of school. His foster parents enrolled him in a Catholic school the next week. That was where he met Zeph, and a whole other kind of sin took root in his young heart.
He didn't see that teacher again for years and when he did, he'd known what to do. The dusty books on the back shelves of a church library could be surprisingly educational for a young man who saw demons.
A woman wearing a white lab coat stepped out through the door separating the rest of the morgue from the office area. She walked through a swinging double door into the office, trailing a hand behind her so it would close silently. Nik glimpsed a great deal of stainless steel behind the metal doors before they closed.
She pulled the latex gloves from her hands and tossed them into a trash can behind a large metal desk, then turned her back to him to wash her hands at the counter. "You must be Nik." The harsh fluorescent lights cast a brilliant glare against her starched coat. The light shone in his sensitive eyes and made her appear to be glowing.
He cleared his throat and stuck his head through the window separating the waiting room from her office. "Yes, can you buzz me in?"
She finished washing her hands and pressed a button on the wall, allowing him access to the small space.
He extended his hand as she turned around.
She gripped his hand in hers firmly and gave the customary two pumps, a strong hello, a man's shake. She met his gaze as she introduced herself. "Vai."
"I'm here to see Father Zeph."
She raised one eyebrow and smirked. "No, you aren't. Why are you really here?"
Nik tried his best not to squirm under her steady gaze.
The small smile never left her face.
"Look, can I see him or what?"
"I’m gonna level with you, Nik, and I want you to do the same. The body brought in last night was unusual. There was blood on the forehead, but no wounds. None at all, anywhere on the body. Sound familiar?" She paused and pointed her icy blue eyes on Nik just long enough to make him sweat.
"I don't know what you're implying, but I'm just here to see Father Zeph. Can I go back now?" He needed to see if Zeph's body was the same man he'd fought last night. Maybe something happened to him after he left. Maybe he'd taken the train home to the Heights and got mugged and it had nothing to do with Nik at all.
"Priests don't usually need anyone to hold their hands. Why are you really here?"
He heaved a sigh and answered as carefully as he could. "Zeph and I have been friends for years. I thought it odd that he'd been called to the morgue, so I came to see what was up."
"You're a terrible liar.” The small woman rolled her eyes at him before continuing. “The body didn't have any information on him but his phone listed the church as his emergency contact. Seemed pretty logical to call it, don't you think? Still doesn't explain why you're here."
With every passing moment, Nik became more agitated. But how far could he push her? He was almost tempted to come right out and tell her what he was, just to get to Zeph, but she'd probably call the police on him for being insane.
For some reason, though, he didn't think she would.
An alarmed shout came from the room behind Vai, saving him from having to come up with an explanation but forming a knot of dread in his stomach. That was Zeph’s voice. She jumped up from her desk and ran through the double doors, Nik close on her heels.
They turned right and ran down a long hallway to the echoes of an instrument tray scattering across the tiled floor beyond another set of double doors. Vai came to a sudden stop, slid on the linoleum floor and almost fell but caught herself in time. She slammed her palm against a metal plate that slowly opened the automatic doors.
As soon as they were open wide enough, Vai and Nik burst through to find Zeph on the other side of an operating table, gripping the edges with white-knuckled fists. His eyes were huge as he stared at a man on the other side of the room.
The dead man’s dirty clothes hung from his frame and blood was crusted to his forehead. A grotesque sight but nothing compared to the emptiness in his eyes. It was the man from the night before, but no demonic face hovered above the man. No soul and no demon? What was this
thing?
He checked Vai's expression and found her jaw hanging open. Suspicions confirmed - this was definitely the dead guy.
What the fuck?
The man snarled at Zeph in a language Nik had never heard.
“E podd ihaf swy haqyl ab swy Koln Boswyl ...”
The words flowed together in a discordant chant, like more than one voice spoke at once. The beautiful horror of it dazed him for a moment until the pungent stench rising from the corpse hit him.
The corpse whipped his head around and growled. Black ooze seeped from his orifices. Tarry tears left red-scarred trails in their paths. The creature turned his body toward them with a jerky movement faster than Nik or Vai could react. He shouted, but Nik still didn't understand.
The creature approached slowly, deliberately, chanting nonsense words with more and more menace as he approached. He motioned with his hands, not the sign of the cross but similar gestures, if not more flourished.
The stench rose in pitch like a siren's wail, reaching out to choke both Nik and Vai.
His empty stomach complained miserably, but he couldn't stop gagging.
Vai chanted a familiar recitation. An exorcism prayer from pagan scrolls disavowed by the church but stored in the archives of The Old Order. He'd never used it himself, couldn't figure out how to pronounce the words, and had never needed anything so strong, but hearing them fall from her lips, they fell into line and he knew their meaning.
She spoke Aramaic.
The creature growled, his approach slowing as he focused in on Vai and her words.
She pulled a black pouch out of her pocket and opened it. She put her hand inside and took out a handful of red, sparkling dust. It looked like finely ground up rubies and cast thousands of pinpoints of light against everything in the room. She held the dust in her palm and repeated the incantation, blowing the dust toward the corpse.
The creature screeched, each pinpoint of light from the dust zipping toward him, seemingly with a life of their own, cutting him like shards of glass.
Black ooze covered the corpse, seeping from a multitude of wounds. The animated body lurched forward, stumbling as it reached for her. It slammed against her, knocking her sideways, sending the rest of the dust flying across the floor.
Her head hit the ground hard enough for the sound of impact to echo in the sterile environment.
"No!" Zeph shouted.
Nik watched the creature wrap its hands around her neck, throttling her so hard it was going to crush her larynx. She grabbed at its hands, clawing for breath. The creature didn't react as she drew blood with her nails and hit him hard enough to flatten anyone else.
The creature climbed onto Vai, straddling her waist and pushing the weight of his body down on her neck.
Shit. She's going to die.
Zeph's voice rose over the struggle as he chanted in Latin and crossed the air. The creature hissed in his direction but didn't stop his attack on Vai.
With no plan, Nik lunged his body forward. The word zombie popped into his mind but that was incredibly ridiculous, he couldn't even entertain the idea. Could he?
He grabbed the thing's shoulders and tried to pull it off Vai who kicked her feet and twisted her body in an attempt to escape the weight holding her down. The creature let go of her with one hand and backhanded Nik, knocking him to the ground, before returning to his intended murder.
Zeph flung holy water as he approached, still chanting and holding out a cross. The priest's words halted the creature's attack, but it now focused its eyes on him with so much hate Nik felt it in his bones.
Vai rose to a sitting position on shaky arms. She locked eyes with Nik. "Help Zeph distract it! I need more time," she rasped.
Nik grabbed a scalpel that had fallen to the ground during the struggle and sliced open his palm. Blood had worked on the chick on the subway, maybe it would work now. He cried out as the surgical tool ripped open the tender flesh, releasing his blood.
He came up behind the corpse and slapped his hand onto it's forehead.
Zeph's prayer rose to a fevered pitch.
The creature jerked away from Vai and slammed into Nik.
He rolled to the side just in time to avoid the creature's weight slamming against him, leaving the creature lying on the ground, spasming as if having a seizure.
Vai reached for the scalpel with one hand and more dust in the other. She cut the side of her forearm, pulling the knife through her flesh just deep enough to draw blood. Then she smeared the red powder on the wound, combining her blood with the dust.
She stood to the side, leaning against the concrete wall. For a moment, Nik thought she'd collapse, but she braced herself against the cold tiled wall.
The corpse stilled and Zeph stopped his chanting. "I could use a little help. I'm out of holy water."
Nik racked his brain for something to do. If he couldn't subdue the thing, he couldn't perform an exorcism. His body chilled as he realized that not only was he going to die here, but he'd watch Zeph die too.
The corpse sprung into action, barreling into Zeph and slamming him against the operating table. The table tipped onto its side, knocking over another one behind it. Zeph somehow managed to keep his feet. Nik screamed as Zeph braced his hands against its shoulders.
The corpse chomped at Zeph as though it wanted to eat him, growling and spewing forth vitriol in that language Nik couldn't quite place.
"Nik!" Zeph's urgent plea jerked him out of his stupor and he rushed the grappling pair, leaping onto the back of the dead man. He locked one arm around its throat and brought his still bloody palm up to its forehead again. He knew it wouldn’t be enough, but he had to do something.
The creature pulled its arms up, grabbing and jerking both Zeph's arms up at an impossible angle. Nik heard a pop as Zeph screamed in pain and fell to the ground. He stared down at his dangling arms in horror.
The creature took a step back, Nik still hanging on, and kicked Zeph into the tables behind him.
Nik winced as Zeph's back struck the edge and his body bent back. The blow might have paralyzed him. But Zeph managed to roll over onto his side and land on one arm, screaming again at the fresh agony.
The corpse turned its back to another wall and rammed against it. The impact knocked the wind out of Nik, but he held on.
Vai spoke in the background, her voice quickly rising to a painful pitch. When the corpse glanced her way, her eyes reflected the red light now glowing in her palm. Wisps of red, hazy smoke rose from the wavering flames that appeared in her palm. She chanted in Aramaic as the flames grew, reaching out toward Nik and the corpse.
The flame burst into thousands of sparks, each with a purpose. They drove directly into the dead man. Nik jumped off his back and rolled, but the embers didn't burn him. Not even ones that landed on his flesh or clothes.
Red flames, hotter than any real fire, consumed the corpse. The inferno remained confined to him, his clothes and flesh blazing in an otherwise undamaged room.
Vai continued in Aramaic, and a greatly suffering Zeph approached from behind to add his Latin prayer. "Et ne nos indúcas in tentatiónem."
Nik added his shortened version combining their voices into a harmony of divine banishment. Relief and euphoria washed over him. He let out a tense breath and felt his shoulders relax.
The creature burned, flailing as its flesh sizzled and sparked. But it was trapped by the three of them, one on each side and the wall at its back. Its eyes shifted in desperation between Nik, Vai, and Zeph.
A shudder rippled through the creature's body and it stilled, then the bones began popping. Its shoulders sprouted massive bones as if the scapula bones themselves were jutting out, growing thick and wide. Muscles expanded beneath its skin. Large veins in its arms and forehead filled with dark blood and bulged.
Vai pulled a dagger from a pocket hidden somewhere beneath her lab coat, its jagged, red blade glinting in the harsh light. She gripped the cross-shaped handle tightly as she rushed
the creature, raising the weapon high then slamming it into the creature's bloody forehead. A loud crack snapped through the room as the knife penetrated its skull.
The thing jerked once, its useless arms flailing at its sides, then dropped to the floor. Its flesh sizzled as Vai backed away quickly. An unearthly wail, like the groan of old wood burning and breaking, tore out of the creature as it was finally consumed by flame.
Nik felt the relief that came along with every exorcism, the balance restored as the creature melted away into nothing.
Vai stood and quickly backed away, the ethereal flames burning deeper and hotter, forcing all three of them back. Though they could feel the heat, it didn't burn anything but the body of the monster before them.
Within moments, the corpse barely resembled a human and soon the bones and muscles were consumed. As the flames died out, the body completely lost to the blaze, all that remained was blood and dust.
Chapter Nine
"Nik..." Zeph moaned.
Nik rushed to his friend's side, but his hands hovered over Zeph's arms, unsure of what he should do. He didn't know how to fix this, if something was broken or if he just needed to get some Advil. Zeph was the only person in his entire life who had ever shown him any degree of real love and now that he needed him, Nik was next to useless. He knew how to fight, how to kill if he had to, but he had no idea how to heal.
"What the ever-loving fuck was that?" Nik demanded, turning his attention to Vai who stood by the door, a stunned expression on her face.
"The soul was completely gone," she mumbled, “the demon wasn’t even there anymore.”
Nik watched, amazed, as she composed herself, changing her expression and hardening her exterior despite the darkening bruise around her neck and the smear of black ooze across her cheek and lab coat.
"You don’t even know the half of it. You wouldn’t believe what it was last night." Nik's voice cracked and the fear from what he'd just witnessed rushed through his system.
Vai talked, but the ringing in his ears and pounding in his head drown her out. He should be listening. He should be doing something for Zeph. He couldn't concentrate and the world shifted around him. His hands shook and could barely think, let alone listen. His vision started to tilt. He was going to pass out if he didn't get a hold of himself. Vai's red lips blurred and soon all he saw was the memory of the red dust transmuting into flame.
