The Noir Evil

by Richard Paul Caird

  She took a moment to curiously look at him up and down with her unreadable crimson eyes and raised an eyebrow as if to give the impression that she was unimpressed with what she saw. She then spoke in an alluringly enticing voice which echoed around the swirling vortex of light and shadow “All whom dare to worship me upon my black mass altar, despair!” Within an instant she then withdrew her whip and snapped it’s upon the unseen ground before him which caused flames to develop at its tip. A fiery image then startlingly began to magically manifest itself before his unbelieving eyes until all the flames died down, leaving the curious sight of the withered and malnourished naked humanoid figure with his back turned to him. This frail and unknown man’s back was riddled with a multitude of bloody whip marks and the demoness relished the snap of her searing whip as she eagerly whipped his back before speaking again “Do you see!”

  This tall and emaciated figure then came to life within a darkened room as he knelt in pain and Ness instantly recognised the shadowy location as Sweeney’s medical practice basement, a place that he knew well because it was always abnormally clean. A large meat cleaver was hanging from a leather belt around the unknown man’s waist, magnificently glinting within the surrounding lightening. Then a metal autopsy bed appeared before the thin man with an unknown struggling female restrained with chains against its cold metal frame. Lilith then pleasurable whipped the man’s back again as she spoke and thoroughly enjoyed the infliction of physical pain upon her human slave “Do you see!”

  Ness then looked on in horror as the darkened room lit up and its walls where covered in blood spatter as the thin man frantically twisted and pulled at his unseen victims head within his blood soaked abattoir, madly screaming and crying in delight as he did so which created music for his demoness masters ears. Lilith sinisterly laughed as her human bound disciple did this and writhed in pleasure and ecstasy as swirling blood rain then started to coat her trembling body, having a euphoric effect upon the lustful demoness. The full moon then turned a blood red as this happened and the storm raged quicker around them, cheating an maddening environment whereby Ness’s very blood started to flow more liberally from his numerous wounds. She then menacingly gritted her sharp predatory teeth together as she angrily whipped the frail man one last time and relished the sight of his severely bleeding back as it gusted with yet more of the warm fluid. She they frighteningly spoke again with a bellowing voice as blood coated her carnivorous teeth “DO YOU SEE!”

  The terrified and blood soaked Ness looked on in horror as the man suddenly turned around to reveal that he was an eyeless Sweeney as the gaping circular holes that should have contained his eyes where now only showing the raw meat at the back of his head. His trembling face looked lost and vacant as though he was silently pleading with Ness to save him from the hell that he now found himself trapped within. Worst of all he clutched the freshly severed head of Poppy with both hands whilst it was still gushing with blood and her vacant blue eyes looked back at him. Ness watched on in horror as her vacant blue eyes slowly showed her precious life quickly seeped away from her whilst Lilith’s echoing groans of pleasures sailed upon the appalling winds of this godforsaken place that he now found himself trapped in.

  Upon seeing this horrifically disturbing sight of possible future events that had still yet to transpire, he realised that the pathetic Sweeney was simply a tool used by this ancient evil to fulfil her hateful desires. Knowing this gave him the strength to defiantly look upon the blood soaked demoness and reply as the red moon behind her bathed her in its unholy light “Yes! I See!” She looked surprised at his unexpectedly defiant reaction and curiously raised an eyebrow again because she had expected the blissful emotion of pure despair to effortlessly flow from the heavily flawed and faithless man.

  Ness then instantly returned back to consciousness and gasped for life giving air as the startled Mad Butcher still held him out above the 10th floor window. He defiantly held on for a few more precious seconds of dear life whilst still grasping the blood soaked statue ever tighter, adamant that he would not let the evil that controls the abomination before him kill the woman that he loves. Out of the corner of his bloodshot eye he could just see that his blood was gushing all over the demonesses statue and flowing down its numerous groves in a torrent of red as the rain helped it on its way down to the unseen depths below. He then saw something miraculous as his blood dripped over the statue and onto the flower base and noticed that it the unknown flower was in fact a rose!, bright red as his freshly warm blood liberally flowed over it. His blood highlighted its immense petal detail and gave him a newly found determination to destroy the unspeakable abomination that now wished to murder the very woman whom he loved.

  Then a gap within the surrounding storm suddenly appeared as a solitary beam of unbroken sunlight miraculously broke through the thick layers of concealing dark clouds above and illuminated the bloody rose within his grasp. This solitary beam of blessed sunlight then blasted out more powerfully from the very heavens themselves and through the small hole within the stormy clouds above as its heavenly light shone directly upon the broken body of Ness and effortlessly revived the apparently defeated man. He suddenly felt his strength return to him as the evil monstrosity’s rancid mouth slowly started to open as it prepared to tear off his head and destroy the defiler of the sacred statue once and for all. The resurgent Ness however was powered by his love for Poppy as well as an unseen power from above and emotionally screamed with all of his might at the unholy abomination “YOU LEAVE HER ALONE YOU MONSTER!”

  He then brought the blood soaked and red glowing sunlit glass rose down upon the monstrosities head with all of his might and as he did this he saw through the clear glass, as well as the blackness of the monstrosity’s shadowy disguise, the terrified human face of Sweeney screaming in fear. The eradiated and sunlit blood soaked red rose smashed into a million pieces upon its grotesque head which caused the demonically powered beast to screech a hideously hellish scream from its forsaken and unholy mouth “AHHHHHHHH!” He also heard the screeching female voice of his unseen demoness master calling out from the unknown beyond as her humanoid minion and loyal disciple upon this physical plane of existence, was unpredictably defeated by the very thing that she could never hope to understand and constantly craved, love “NOOOOOOOO!”

  The monstrous Mad Butcher then instantly let go of Ness and he fell from the comforting warmth of the beaming sunlight and down into the cold darkness with the surrounding rain. Lilith’s satisfying otherworldly screams of pain where soon indiscernible as he picked up speed and fell into the gloomy rain clouds which still continued to hold the hotel hostage. As he helplessly fell through the icy rain and gloom which became ever colder and darker the further that he descended, he was resigned to whatever fate that awaited him and was satisfied that his last thoughts where of saving the woman that he had always loved.

  As the exhausted Merlyo finally managed to kick open the door he instantly found himself staggering into the blazingly dazzling sunlight of the Lake Erie shoreline. The confused detective frantically looked around in disbelief with his revolver drawn as he felt the warm sea breeze caress his bloodied and bruised face but strangely only heard the wave’s gently lapping against the nearby rocks. Whilst he surveyed his obviously delusional surroundings and slowly lowered his revolver in his trembling hand, he theorised that Polizzi did throw him down the elevator shaft after all and that this was quite possible his final journey into the afterlife. Either that or he had finally succumb to his brutal beatings by the mobster or at the very least he was somewhere physically incapacitated and with a possible head trauma.

  Whatever the reason he enjoyed the rare suns glare which was now soaking his achingly warm skin before he slowly put his revolver back into his shoulder holster as he pleasantly looked up towards the beckoning sun and closed his eyes. After a blissful moment whereby he simply enjoyed the sun caressing his skin and listening to the gentle lapping of the nearby shoreli
ne water, he heard somebody coming closer to his location from the sunlit distance. As he curiously opened his eyes he instinctively reached for his revolver again but paused because he could see that it was a just lone little girl walking leisurely towards him by the calm shoreline. The expectant detective stayed silent as she slowly came closer to him only to occasionally stop to playfully run through the warm sunlit water in a joyous manner. He looked around the familiar surroundings to ensure that he was the only one by the isolated shoreline and still awaited for fates cruel irony to briskly whisk him away from this heavenly place.

  As she neared her details slowly came more into focus and she appeared to be a beautiful and healthy looking little girl whom was wearing a strangely familiar white nightie. The curious detective then knew who she was as she slowly walked up to him with a loving smile across her beautiful face and as she lifted her elegant hand towards his, this caused him to flinch. He could not fully understand why his tormentor, whom had delighted in continually haunting him for years, was making an appearance in such an oddly endearing form. The suspicious detective was certain the Lady of the Lake would gruesomely metamorphose into something horrendous at any moment once his guard was dropped but it was not to be as she simply and gently just held his hand whilst lovingly looking up at him. He started to feel uncomfortable awaiting for her nightmarish appearance to inevitably form and so he knelt down and leaned into speak to her, wanting to get this trauma over and done with before he became too acclimatized to this beautifully alluring location.

  She then startled him by lovingly kissing him upon the cheek, her lips comfortingly warm like the sun’s rays, and after a moment’s reluctant hesitation he realised that there was something different about this situation because he could instinctively feel it throughout his entire being. This raw emotion of pure happiness was emanating from her mere presence next to him and it was enveloping him within her bubble of bliss which he felt lovingly saturate his entire being. As she lovingly smiled at him under the suns warm embrace, she then tenderly stroked his bloody cheek before then slowly turning around and playfully started to run towards the calm sunlit water’s edge. He squinted his eyes as he watched on in silent amazement as she slowly walked into the sparklingly sunlit water that now filled his eyes with a glistening feeling of blissful contentment. He held his hand up against his face as he tried to keep a visual on her as she surprisingly ran into the awaiting arms of a mysterious young woman whom he could not make out, disappearing into the blinding light of comforting sunlight that now bathed her within its warm arms.

  The detective then instinctively knew that the Lady of the Lake was the unborn child of the first murder victim and knowing now that she was at peace with her mother in the afterlife, filled him with an a pure and divine happiness which soothed his weary soul. This knowing was from an undetermined location which origins remained hidden but his certainty was justified by how he inexplicably knew, instinctively accepting this startling revelation that appeared to have developed from the fog of his tired mind. A realisation then came upon him that he could now also finally rest his own weary soul and even though he did not fully understand it, he accepted this well-deserved outcome with open arms. As he closed his eyes to enjoy the warm sun upon his face and willingly accepted that he would now possibly move onto the next life, he heard the distant but familiar sound of an automobile horn and traffic from the streets below.

  He then reluctantly opened his eyes and suddenly found himself sadly back within the brightly sunlit luxury hotel suite and facing a motionless Ness whom was sitting across from an apparently sleeping Sweeney. The battered and bloody detective confusingly looked around him as his eyes quickly adjusted back into focus within the sun soaked room. He saw the battered and bullet riddled door that he had just entered through before then swiftly looking back at the bizarre scene that had initially greeted his eyes. The room was surprisingly not filled with water or chaotically destroyed but was oddly just as he had remembered it before he had left Ness alone there with their secret suspect. Ness then broke out of his stoic motionlessness and suddenly found himself seated back at the table and facing an unconscious Sweeney, whom had somehow changed back to his normal humanoid self and was heavily breathing as the vibrant sunlight forcefully beamed down upon him.

  Ness then closed his eyes as he tried to adjust to the immense sunlight which seemed to have been strangely absent since he had first arrived in Cleveland all those years ago and confusingly looked around as did Merlyo, both silently attempting to understand the strange events that had just transpired. Merlyo then broke the bemused silence with words that appeared to bring them both more so back into the present reality “What just happened?” Ness looked confused as he frantically surveyed his immediate surroundings and padded himself down to see if there was any residual pain from his numerous fatal wounds that he had suffered. He soon determined that he was miraculously unharmed and smiled to himself in disbelief as he replayed the peculiar events that where unexplainable within any rational mind. He then stood up and smiled as his good health was confirmed whilst also expressing his confusion “I’m not harmed? I can’t believe it! I’m not sure what happened? The last thing I recall was that I was fighting this Sweeney-demon ‘thing’ and er?... and then I was falling into… into…? I don’t know what actually? Falling into oblivion I guess?”

  Merlyo looked on in confusion as the awkwardly smiling Ness continued to pat himself down whilst tentatively feeling his neck before his smile changed to a look of horror as Merlyo’s blooded and bruised face came into focus. He then spoke as he got up and rushed over to the detective to inspect him “Jesus! What happened to you!?” Merlyo replied as Ness irritatingly inspected his face with immense care but was not willing to inform him of how Polizzi was defeated or what had just transpired within his wandering mind “Polizzi did this and unfortunately he was no illusion but he’s fled now. I think he mentioned something about killing you but you where otherwise preoccupied I think? A day in the life of Eliot Ness right? Hehe! Fighting demon ‘things’ and psychopaths are all in a day’s work for Cleveland’s untouchable safety director right? Hehe! Ouch!”

  Merlyo winced in pain as he tried to laugh and instinctively moved away from the overly concerned Ness whom secretly suspected he might have an internal rib fracture. Ness then carefully helped the struggling detective to his previous seating location and sat him down, both understanding that his adrenalin had now worn off and that immense pain would soon overflow his already confused mind. Whilst Ness did this he quietly noticed the gleaming sunlit yellow remains of the shattered sand glass statue of Lilith that covered the floor at the foot of the fireplace and silently speculated on why only it was changed when all else appeared to have remained the same. Once Merlyo was seated comfortably Ness looked again at the mesmerizingly dazzling glass ruminants whilst he spoke to the recovering detective “I’m going to go and get Gerber because I think you might need some medical help so just stay here and look after our secret suspect ok?”

  The observant Ness then also noticed that Gerber’s open Gladstone bag only contained glass shards and silently noted down a reminder within his curious mind that he would have to ask the coroner what it contained when he had the time. Just as the concerned Ness was about to leave Merlyo spoke whilst he placed his revolver upon the table and looked at the uncurious Sweeney “Ness wait! So what the hell just happened in here and what was all that noise about? Did our suspect here confess?” As Ness stood by the door he turned to his friend and smiled before he spoke, understanding the complexity of his irrational answer well in advance and deciding to hide the unbelievable truth for a little while longer “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you and yes he confessed but not in the way that you think, nothing we can take to court. I don’t quite understand it all myself but I think this nightmare is over for us all”

  The smiling Merlyo then replied with raised eyebrows “I don’t think I’d believe you? Try me!” Ness smiled war
mly at the sunlit detective and replied as he left the room and entered the newly arrived elevator outside “I’ll tell you later on I promise!” The pondering and bemused detective yelled after him as he heard the elevator doors close, choosing to let him go without protest because his entire body was aching and in pain “I’ll hold you to that because I heard something ‘weird’ coming from inside this room! Something awful!”

  As Merlyo listened to the gentle hum of the lowering elevator he slowly relaxed back within the comfortable seat and closed his eyes whilst he felt the elusive sleep begging to reacquaint itself with him. The loving sun bathed him within its warm and nurturing arms, saturating his every pore with contentment and relaxation. He then recalled the beautiful imagery of the smiling Lady of the Lake as she walked up to him by the sun kissed shoreline and gently kissed his cheek. He relished this comforting imagery as he sat facing there lumbering prime suspect and strangely felt more at ease than he had ever been since this blighted case had begun. He felt immensely satisfied with himself for helping free his tormentor’s spirit from the hellish purgatory that she had found herself trapped within, oddly feeling sad at her absence now and strangely missing her creepy mischievous behaviour. He now simply desired what he had been denied for so very long, a descents night sleep and he instinctively knew now that this was a blissfully wondrous inevitability.

  Meanwhile a determined Ness then hastily left the opening elevator after briefly looking at his watch and swiftly moved through the packed lobby as he looked for Gerber. He then clumsily bumped into the startled Gerber whom had been keenly observing the miraculous disappearance of the storm clouds overhead and marvelling at the vibrant colour of pure blue which now saturated the sky. He then hastily told him about his concerns over Merlyo’s health and as Gerber loyally left to go and care for the injured detective, the pondering coroner thought about the unknown fate of his three absent companions whilst in the ascending elevator. He strangely knew within the core of his very being that they were all now ultimately at peace and he smiled whilst shedding a tear for his friends, knowing that they would be absent from his beloved Gladstone bag upon his arrival.