by Robert Essig
He said to them: “You don’t want to know what is in the black pit. I cannot even recite to you what I saw in there. The horrors.” He shivered. “There’s a part of me in there, a part of me I will never get back. Satan sees all. We cannot be foolish. Dagana and I were fools. We thought we could have it all, but no one can have it all. We’ve been given another chance, but Dagana has to be sacrificed. Her betrayal cannot be forgiven.”
A grin surfaced on Baz’s face and then he tilted his head, looking down at Dagana. “I take great pleasure in this.” He took a deep breath, then kicked Dagana hard enough to fling her body into the black pool. The bubbles rose in a flurry, all calling her name in low gurgles. She screamed, but the roar of the pit stifled her. She was gone.
40
Austin lay in Audrey’s arms, his body a landscape of rips and tears, blood and bruises. The transformation had left him damaged goods, but he was coherent and ready to go home. For once in his life, he knew exactly where his home was.
The fight Austin had expected didn’t happen. Something within Baz changed when he had been thrust into the black pit. He’d made the deal with the tortured souls, a deal agreed upon by Satan himself, and even then, due to his own betrayal, his body was left behind. The ectoplasmic remains of his soul made it out of the pit with the sole purpose of sacrificing Dagana and reorganizing the sentinels and the protection of the demon children. If things didn’t return to normal, all of the sentinels would be rounded up and brought to the black pit, replaced with more obedient servants of Hell.
Baz removed himself from the mutation that he and Austin had become, returning Austin’s body to its former size, though used and abused. Demonicus made amends with Baz by summoning a creature, much like Decimator, that he could use as his new body. He was the same Baz, however he would serve as a sentinel under a new guise.
“You’ll never be the same,” said Baz to Austin and Audrey.
“What do you mean?” asked Audrey.
“I can bring you back to your world, but you will be an anomaly. Perhaps even a freak amongst men. Do you want that?”
“We just want to get back home,” said Audrey. “I don’t understand what the problem is.”
Yrictus spoke up. “Maybe there won’t be a problem.”
Baz sighed. “Maybe. I brought you here; I’ll take you back.”
Austin didn’t trust Baz, not after what he’d done to Audrey, but something had indeed changed. They were vile creatures, beasts really, but Austin had no other choice than to trust his and Audrey’s lives to Baz. He indeed had that ability to pass between the realms. If there was an issue due to their wounds as Baz had suggested, they would deal with it on the other side.
Austin stood, grimacing against the pain of his damaged body, Audrey holding him balanced.
“Are you sure we should leave with you in this shape,” Audrey asked Austin.
He nodded, teeth clenched. “No offense,” he said looking toward Baz and the others, “but I really want to get out of this place.”
Yrictus nodded. “I understand. The realms are very different.”
Demonicus said, “I’m sure we’d no more want to live on Earth than you want to stay here. We understand.”
Austin nodded. He looked at Baz. He didn’t recognize him in his new skin. He appeared less a monster than before, but Austin wouldn’t put anything past him. He was happy that Dagana was gone and hoped her demise really would be the mark of the end of this whole ordeal.
“Shall we?” asked Austin.
Baz nodded. “We shall.”
41
Somewhere in northern Texas, hail the size of large pebbles attacked the roof. It’s been ten years since the Dagana debacle, and ten years that Austin finally lived in one residence.
“The car’s in the garage, right?” asked Audrey.
“Yep. Put it in there last night before the storm hit.”
They married. It was the natural thing to do after what they had been through. Audrey suffered nightmares as real as life itself. She used to spend a lot of time with her shrink. Before the changes became too visible.
When they came back to Earth, Austin’s name was all over the television. He was suspected in the murder of the maid at the Hollywood Wheeler hotel. It was the last thing they wanted to deal with after what they had been through, but in their state they concocted quite an elaborate story about being abducted by a man in a trench coat, which wasn’t too far from the truth. They were so badly beaten that their story was believed by not only the authorities, but the public as well. After a media storm that seemed to last forever, they faded away into anonymity.
Austin and Audrey shared a lot after they returned from the In Between. Yes, they were quite a match, and they were certain that they would have ended up together somehow, someway. They were meant for one another, in more ways than love could account for. In time, they realized what Baz was talking about concerning things changing when they came back. It wasn’t immediate, the changes, but slow and progressive, and now, ten years later, they became far too disfigured to show themselves in public without wearing trench coats and hats.
Audrey stood before a large picture window, looking out at the raging storm. She loved storms. Enjoyed nothing better than just watching nature at work.
Austin placed his scaly claw-tipped hand on her shoulder. He could feel the gentle lumps beneath her shirt where tiny blunt calcium-like protrusions were erupting through the skin.
It was the wounds that did it. The wounds would not heal in the In between, and with the wounds came remnants from some being or another. Perhaps it was DNA that seeped into their blood stream and began to slowly change them, but over time, the scars from Austin’s and Audrey’s wounds began to spread, changing them into something otherworldly.
At times, the depression would get the better of them, but life was good, and the future could hold anything. Austin took over the family business, after which he hired a team of brilliant minds to do the work he never learned how to do during his years of drifting through the world. It was better that way.
Where Austin had once been a man amongst men who traveled for a living, he now found himself a recluse by no choice of his own. But he had Audrey, and together they were becoming.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robert Essig lives in Southern California with his wife, son, and dog. He has had a morbid fascination all his life, yet still doesn't have a sufficient answer when someone asks, “Why horror?” His short fiction has appeared in over 40 magazines and anthologies. He is the author of the novellas The Cemetery Tour and The Madness. Visit him on the web at robertessig.blogspot.com or on facebook.
