by Robert Essig
It would seem that Austin was following in his parents footsteps by traveling around the world the way he was, but that wasn’t true. At least Austin convinced himself that it wasn’t true. He had no children to abandon the way they did, and he was on the journey of discovering himself, albeit a long journey. For the first time during his life as a vagabond, he was beginning to see the end.
But the images of that woman-thing in the alley continued to return, flashing through his mind like a slideshow. If he didn’t do something, he would live to regret everything, because he knew, in some strange way, that everything has been leading up to this. That he had seen and experienced something so radical and otherworldly as a parasite with the ability to transfer from the flesh without so much as a wound, was phenomenal. To ignore such a phenomenon and move on would be something taken to the grave, and Austin wasn’t willing to bear that kind of regret.
Austin stood from his bed and walked across the room to the window that looked out over Sunset Boulevard. She was out there somewhere . . . the woman-thing . . . and Audrey . . .
A sudden knocking at the door shattered Austin’s thoughts. It’d better not be that sorry sack Paul, because the guy was walking on thin ice and sucking up way too much after his blunder.
Austin’s head was feeling quite nice, the vodka having settled into his bloodstream with the beer. He crossed the room and squinted his eye to look through the peephole. He didn’t recognize the person standing in the hallway. How could he? The person was wearing a trench coat with the collar pulled high and a fedora like some refugee from a pulp magazine.
Austin opened the door to an ominous figure that had no problem letting himself into the suite. Austin protested, but the intruder walked in, maneuvering himself in a suave manner as if he owned the place.
“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” asked Austin. “Get outta here.
“I wanna know where she is,” said a decidedly male voice from the deep, swimming darkness beneath the fedora. There were red dots in the darkness, what Austin imagined robot eyes would look like, but he couldn’t make out a face.
“Who? Wait, never mind that. What gives you the right to bust into my room like this, huh? I think you’d better get the fuck outta here before I call security.”
“You don’t want to do that. It would take them a week to scrape you off the walls were you to do that. Just answer my questions and I’ll move along. I can smell her on you. I think you have been with her recently.”
“Who? Audrey?”
“I don’t know no Audrey. Stop playing dumb, asshole, and tell me where she is. Your life depends on it.”
“I really don’t know what you’re talking about. In fact, I just got here yesterday.”
The trench-coated man stepped closer to Austin. An obnoxious sniffing sound gurgled from beneath the fedora. “I smell traces of her. Tell me what you know.”
The man was a good two feet taller than Austin who was a tall man himself. His domineering stance and glowing eyes drove a sense of fear into Austin. He would have liked to have a gun at that moment if for nothing else that to shoo this crazy bastard out of his room.
A hand emerged from its hiding place within the trench coat. It was malformed and light blue, reminding Austin of a corpse. The fingers were elongated and the joints were abnormally large as if he suffered from a severe case of arthritis. The flesh was waxy and scarred.
“Do you know what you’re involved in? Do you know the seriousness and consequence of you messing around with a sentinel in human disguise?”
The gnarled hand grabbed the fedora and pulled it off of a bald head as pale as death with several tiny horns decorating the top and cavities on the side where ears should have been. The face was like something that had been doused in acid. The nose was merely two small cavities within folds of flesh, and the mouth was contorted with the lower lip sagging in a way that showed off his sharp teeth all yellow and green in black gums.
Austin’s eyes grew in his head, breath caught in his throat. The thing standing before him was not human, couldn’t be. He’d never seen anything quite like this . . . or had he? The woman-thing in the alley wasn’t human either.
“You know who I’m looking for. Not only can I smell her on you, but I can see it in your dumb eyes. Recognition. She left the tribe many years ago and has been causing trouble in our realm ever since. I need to find and bring her back. We have ways of dealing with rebels like Dagana.”
“Dagana?”
The man’s strange hand lurched for Austin, latching onto his neck before he had a chance to reflex. His long bony fingers wrapped around very tight and began clenching.
“Don’t play dumb with me, stupid fool! I could squeeze my hand and pop your head off and suck out your brain through the bloody stump.”
The strange man loosened his grip. Austin had become very tense and he too tried to loosen up a bit. He tried to think of some kind of solution, but he was at a total loss. Then one of the fingernails dug into the back of his neck. Austin winced and gritted his teeth. It was imperative that he remained calm and collected, however difficult a task that was. This man was connected to the woman-beast and he was very powerful. He could no doubt do to Austin what that woman-thing did to the man in the alley.
Pulling his finger out of Austin’s neck, the thing brought the bloodied tip to his mouth and inserted it. His gleaming red eyes slanted as he tasted. He groaned and slobbered.
“I can taste her.”
Austin stared into the thing’s eyes. Half his mind was considering an attack, but the better half was remaining calm. If he were going to attack, he would have to choose the right moment to make his move.
But the monster made the first move, his hand launching from his mouth and into Austin’s face in an open backhand. Austin was caught completely off his guard and thrown to the floor. It was almost comical the way he flew through the air. His face was hot, his left eye swelling immediately.
From the ground he said, “I think you smell one of her parasites.” Austin rubbed his eye.
The monster laughed. “A parasite you say? I don’t think so, idiot.”
“It jumped from . . . well, from a dead body.”
The monster’s brow furled. “Tell me more.”
“This woman . . . thing—whatever she was—killed a man in San Diego. From across the street, in hiding, I saw it. After she left, I investigated the body and it was swarming with some kind of transparent parasites.” Austin sighed, “I collected one of them in a jar. The jar broke and the parasite attacked me. It dug into my skin and nestled at the back of my neck where you just stabbed me with your fingernail.”
“But it’s not there anymore. Why?”
“She took it back just yesterday. I’m glad to be rid of it. It was starting to cause me a great deal of pain.”
“You don’t understand pain.”
Austin stood up again. Unable to tell this thing’s motivations aside from finding the woman-thing, Austin wanted their conversation to be over with. This creature obviously connected with the woman-thing in some way—both visions from hell that were unnatural to this world. That thought alone terrified Austin. To be in the presence of something unworldly was mind-boggling and terrifying. He had the feeling this monstrous being could and would destroy him without a second thought.
“That may very well be true,” said Austin.
He wasn’t afraid of anybody. In the past, he’d fought when push came to shove, and he’d brandished his share of black eyes and bruises. Sometimes a good bout of fisticuffs was the only solution. This wasn’t one of those times. The thing standing before Austin would tear him a part. Fighting was not an option. If Austin was going to make it out of this horror show, he was going to have to slicker than a weasel.
“It is true, and I could cause you intense pain and suffering. I could even steal your soul and make you suffer in the next realm. Mortal pain can be brutal but it ends eventually. Your soul, however, can be paralyzed w
ith pain and suspended for an eternity of suffering. Do you want that?”
“Of course not. Are you making a bargain with me?”
The eyes on the pale baldhead slanted. The crooked mouth shifted into an ever worse grimace than the monster had to begin with.
“You should be the one bargaining, fool!”
The creature grabbed Austin by his shirt collar, claws ripping his flesh as they clenched a ball of t-shirt. He pulled Austin forth, his face an inch away from the pale beast’s. “Now you listen to me, you little fuck! I call the shots, not you. I’m showing extreme restraint and patience with you and your stupidity, but it’s wearing thin. I need to find Dagana and I need her now. I can’t even begin to explain to you the importance of her suffering due to the strife she has caused our tribe, so I’m not even going to try.”
Its breath was like rotten meat and durian fruit. Austin wanted to gag as it spoke, but he had to play his cards carefully. This thing before him was a loose cannon and it wouldn’t take a whole lot for the beast to ignite.
“I can find her for you.”
The monster’s demeanor softened immediately. Austin wanted to tell the monster that he needed his assistance and that he should lay off a bit, but that could lead to a disastrous consequence. Dealing with lunatics was all about keeping a good poker face, showing no fear, and confidence.
“So you do know her?”
“No, but I’ve seen her. I don’t know where she is, but I can track her for you. I’m not saying that you’re incapable, but look at you. I’m guessing you have to walk around at night as not to be noticed. You don’t really fit in. I’m guessing, as strange as it sounds to me at least, that you’re not from Earth.”
“Nor is Dagana. We are from the realm between Earth and Hell.”
“Purgatory?”
This was getting stranger by the minute.
He burst out laughing. “Purgatory is a fable, or at least a half truth. The In Between is the realm where demon seeds incubate into adulthood before making the journey to Hell. We were once their protectors and then we banded together to rule over the In Between as Satan rules over Hell. Only Dagana had ideas of her own and left us. She’s been living on Earth, killing and eating people’s souls. The souls have been seeping into the In Between as distortions and causing a great deal of trouble. She needs to be eliminated.”
“I’ll find her for you. For a price.”
The beastly man-thing grunted with dissatisfaction. But there was also a sense of trust in his grunt, as if he was seriously considering Austin’s offer.
“Yes, you will find her for me. But I’ll name the price, idiot. I may not know the ins and outs of Earth as well as Dagana, but you’re the first link to her I have found. You should be happy I haven’t killed you. Are you? Do you value your life, fool?”
That was a great question. Austin thought he did indeed value his life, but he didn’t answer immediately. Part of him was convinced that he was bluffing to keep this thing before him on his toes, but then there was another part of him that really wondered. He’d been taking risks lately, pondering where his life was going even more so than usual. He’d watched a man get murdered and then went to look the body before even calling the police!
“Yes, I suppose I do, but lately I’m not sure how much.”
“Do you want to know how much? I can show you.”
“I think I’ll take your word for it.”
“Life is precious. If only you knew what’s in store for your soul afterward you may not hesitate. But I think you do value your life, and so I am going to let you live, but you must find Dagana for me. If you do not, I will find you and make you wish for death. You’ll pray to every false idol your mind can think of; cry until your eyes cannot tear up anymore; wish your miserable ass had never been born. Do you understand me?”
“Yes. What do you want me to do with her once I’ve found her? She’s dangerous.”
“Ha. No more than I am. She’s a sneaky one. I cannot seem to detect her scent, yet I smell her on you. Her little soul-sucking demon at least. She’s getting sloppy. I’ll be following you. If I think you’re fucking around too much I might even lay down some discipline. Once you’ve found her I’ll be there and I’ll take her back to the In Between where she belongs.”
Austin nodded. “Fair enough.”
“You’re damn right it’s fair enough.” The beast raised his hand to smack Austin then thought better of it. He grunted and put his fedora back on. Austin was glad his eerie droopy lip was out of sight.
“What’s your name?” asked Austin as the strange being opened the hotel room door. Austin had a feeling that he didn’t have to use the door, that he could somehow slip into the in between realm as he wished.
“Garaam Baz. Feel free to tell Dagana that Baz sent you. You may think she’s dangerous, but you’ll see her weak side at the very sound of my name. You could say to her that a bee will buzz and she’ll freak out because it’s so close to my name. She’s not the one you need to worry about, shit face. I am.”
With that, Baz left the room and slammed the door.
Austin hadn’t been aware of the breath he’d been holding in until he let it out and collapsed on the floor out of sheer exhaustion and fear. When he came to, he had another airliner bottle of vodka chased with a beer. He then wondered, as nice as it was to place a name to the woman-thing, how the hell he was going to find Dagana.
15
Rich had slept in his car parked in the back of a parking lot at a Vons that was open 24 hours. There was something comforting about sleeping in front of a store that never closed. He felt that there was less chance some hoodlums spotting him and trying to start shit. Not that he wouldn’t have been able to take care of business. Where only a week ago he would have shriveled at the idea of not only sleeping in his car in West Hollywood, but anticipating potential harassment as well, he now felt powerful and shied away at nothing.
Or did he?
The sun was warm and getting hotter by the minute. He would be in the mountains by the end of the day and that would be just fine. The cool, fresh air, the smell of pine trees, his becoming more than human—everything would be just fine.
He’d show his father and that deadbeat bitch of a wife. They’ll grovel at his feet. If they’re lucky he’ll make their pain in dying very slight, but he didn’t think they’d be so fortunate. Those who never believed in him would pay; he would make sure of that.
From Rich’s view there was a bum sifting through a garbage can for something to eat or recycle. Rich wanted to kill him, but it wasn’t the right time or place. A woman walked out of Vons wearing yoga pants and a tank top as if she was on the eternal fitness walk. She had a bottle of Vitamin Water and a banana. How fucking perfect. Rich wanted her blood. She would be a very nice kill, but again, it wasn’t the right place or time. Even the guy in the motorized wheelchair with the dual American flags on the sides would have been fun to kill. Poor bastard wouldn’t have a chance.
But again, not the right place or time.
Tonight was the right time. Tonight.
Rich stepped out of the car and brushed away his newfound blood lust. He stretched and became brutally aware of the lump at the back of his neck. It was the tiny demon. Rich placed his hand on the base of his neck but he couldn’t feel anything there on the outside. Inside it felt as if the little soul sucker was clenching the area where spine meets neck. It wasn’t pleasant, but not altogether annoying either, especially because it symbolized his connection to Jeanie.
After grabbing a bottle of Coke and a bag of chips, Rich decided to fill his gas tank at the gas station next to Vons. He then took the car back on the road and parked near a freeway onramp. This way he would be ready to hit the road as soon as Jeanie contacted him.
Death Fraud was over. They were on a three-day break until the show in San Francisco. For Rich they were but a memory. Even now, he wondered what it was that possessed him to leave his wife and follow some metal band he
had been a huge fan of during those raucous and fleeting days of college. What got into him? Perhaps it was the beginning of his becoming unbeknownst to him. Maybe it was all fate.
Yes, fate.
He saw so many potential victims whom he could destroy with his bare hands. Perhaps their deaths would be fate.
Then there was that whole right time right place shit. Rich had to keep cool if he knew what was good for him. As much as fate may have had something to do with his becoming, the truth was that Jeanie had even more to do with it. It was she who would perform the ritual, she who had offered him something that would make him a thriving success of pure power.
Rich sat there for over an hour plotting ways to murder every Tom, Dick, and Harry who passed by. He thought about fate and vengeance, God and Satan, power and weakness, and how life can change drastically in an incomprehensible way, at any given moment, without so much as a warning. There was no way of ever truly knowing what was right around the corner.
The little demon stirred in his neck, then moved through his shoulder and down his arm in the form of a lump that looked like some kind of moving cyst. Once it arrived at Rich’s forearm it protruded through the skin painlessly and without leaving a wound. He held his hand in front of his face and looked into the beady little eyes of the translucent beast he happily housed for this waiting period. When the demon spoke it was Jeanie’s voice that came forth creating an effect that was almost humorous.
“I want you to come to the cabin. Everything is prepared for your becoming. Head north. My soul sucker will lead the way. I’ll be waiting for you.”
Rich nodded and thought, soul sucker, huh?
“Yes. I’m on my way.”
Turning the key in the ignition, Rich hit the gas and headed for the freeway. The soul sucker perched itself on the dashboard like a queer ornament. It was an odd little thing. It stood there looking out the window like an obedient dog watching as the world passed by. They had several hours of drive time ahead of them. Hopefully, the soul sucker had a good compass, because Rich had never been to the Sierras and hadn’t the slightest clue how to get there.
