“Not my finest hour, but at least I kept my promises to you, and to her.”
Jess’s words rang true in his head as she glanced up with just her eyes and continued, “I gave her that life and now, you and I can have this one.”
She started to smile and coughed hard, tears streaming down her face along with cries of pain. Kyle leaned in and held her head under his hands, trying his best to be near her around all of the arrows sticking out of her now like a captured kill. He leaned in close and whispered to her;
“You won’t make it out of this alive, I can already see the signs of overdose in your skin, in your eyes.” Jess’s lips slowly moved to what would’ve been her shy laugh if they were at the dinner table.
“You still after all this time don’t trust me. I’ve a taste for atropine, she and I play well together, you’ll see.”
He watched as her fangs slowly protruded and the striations of toxic poison coursing through her veins slowly resided, her eyes glowed a bright and beautiful purple, haunting Kyle down to the deepest chambers of his soul.
“There is so much we still don’t know about one another.” Kyle whispered to her mind and waiting for her response.
“I left the light on for you, will you do me one last favor?”
Kyle leaned over and waited for her lips to respond, “Kill me.”
Kyle leaned back and realized that her voice was changed, it was his, that wretched voice in his mind coursing through his blood and into his brain.
“Agh! Ahh! Why must it end this way?! Time and time again! Fuck!!!”
His screams echoed off the canyon causing the horse to race towards the top of the mountain from the trail they’d just emerged. Before she could say anything more to him, her eyes formed tears, she could see that he was gone now and that Darkeel was the only one left.
As the clouded tears streamed down her face and over her cheeks, the snow began to fall, the crows surrounded her across the tree line. Each one positioned at the top of each tree, depicting a circle of executioner’s waiting for the moment when the guillotine fell on her pretty intact neck. She watched the tall, dark being standing over her, his thighs spread and each boot was firmly planted on her forearms. She started to scream in agony, and trembled trying to remain calm after her nerves stopped burning her flesh alive. He bent down and crouched over her slowly breaking each arrow and sending her body into waves of shock. As he reached for her swanlike neck she knew that it was time to make peace with all that transpired here this dark, isolated day.
She could hear herself choking, feel herself losing consciousness, his hands were so strong, yet so comfortingly warm. In this frigid hell it was the last warmth that she’d ever feel from human touch in this life. Jess formed the words I Love You, with her final ounce of strength and watched overhead as the crows started to caw, her eyes capturing The Slaughterhouse Hills Hunter as he killed another of his victims and the most prized, of his treasured possessions. She felt the darkness floating in, she could barely see his face, his dark form or silhouette now. It wouldn’t be much longer before she and Sara were with each other for eternity. As her eyes rolled back towards where her body was lying, she saw her there standing, glowing wrapped in long layers of velvet, and she looked divine. Her radiant smile serenely depicted on her angelic face. Her beautiful hands that created such pleasure in Jess’ body for so long gently reached forward to guide her to their afterlife, a midst the floor of bodies and the haunted hills of The Slaughterhouse Hills Hunter. She turned around and started to walk along the frozen riverbed, Jess couldn’t help but look up once more to whisper one last thing before she was destined to die.
“Goodbye old fiend, I’ll miss you.” In that moment his dark cloaked form faded into black and all she felt was eternal warmth, finally at long last.
Chapter 38:
Beloved Tribute
“Where am I?”
Jess could hear her voice muttering aloud, a startling discovery for anyone beyond the grave. Assuming this was part of the transition to the afterlife, she waited and wondered why it smelled of the earth. Like dusty, mildew streaked, earth. The scent of petrichor was thick, wafting into her nose, before she could move she heard the sound of clanking metal chains above her head and she suddenly opened her eyes.
“Where the fuck am I now? This can’t be, none of this makes sense. I’m dead? Or at least I should be.”
In that moment her eyes adjusted and she started to realize exactly where she was. The stone walls were illuminated by candlelight, she saw her face again, this time behind a statue of stone.
“Oh god, Sara?” Jess shrieked aloud, “What have you done?!”
She tried to flee towards her beloved’s form, serenely smiling behind stone, a perfect figure and monument to her beauty, her strength and her powerful soul. She was dressed in her favorite outfit.
“But how did he know?”
She started to cry realizing she was utterly trapped, she’d never felt so lost without her powers, something was wrong, until she realized what this metal was made out of. A powerful elemental that would subdue her abilities leaving her helpless as a mortal…human. She searched for answers and looked around the mausoleum, the entire room was filled with flowers, endless bouquets of Sara’s favorite lilies and orchids, red roses and lavender, in every corner of this haunted place. It was a beautiful tribute to the incredible creature that captivated her in that bar and stole her heart eons ago on this very Halloween night.
“My darling, questions lead to answers and answers lead to courage, with courage you’ll try to flee, and I need you trained, docile and subdued for what I have in mind.”
Kyle spoke clearly as his boots echoed off the stone floor trailing up the staircase that she knew all too intimately. He walked into the room and calmly placed a kiss on her forehead. Jess was completely in awe she had no words for what was taking place tonight. She only possessed a thousand questions none of which would be answered tonight, or ever if he had any power or control over such confessions. In that moment she heard his boots silently marching away behind her, the sound of the stone wall door being moved slowly into place.
Instantly Jess panicked as she saw the lights dimming, she knew they’d go out following the backdraft, horrified she saw Sara’s face fully in the light, her eyes still open, and her face looking towards the heavens in a haunting expression of fear and torment. Her mind filled once more with that terrifying sound, the endless laughter rang through her head, rang and rang against the halls and corridors of her tortured psyche. In a rage she thrashed and tried to move, her body jerking mere inches above and below she was completely restricted to this slab of concrete, this shrined room to her and her beloved.
“No! No! NOooooOoooooooooOOOOOOOO!”
Jess started to scream and instantly she felt her possessed lips pursed together as if he was standing there personally forcing her lips to form the words she desperately never desired to utter again in this life or any others. As Jess lied there in agony, completely alone, the darkness penetrating into the mausoleum that would be her final resting place. The ether crept in at an alarming rate. All she could do is scream, in agonizing fear, her soul shrieked for the final time;
“DARKEEL! DAR-KEEL! DARK-KILL! DARK-KILL! DARK-KILL! DARRRKK-KKIIIIILLLL!!”
Kyle wandered up slowly towards the dungeon floor, today he had no patience or kindness left in his soul. It was exhausted completely and any prized possession of his would be a fool to cross him. He marched into the dungeons just above Jess as she continued to thrash around in utter darkness. The sound of girls was nowhere to be heard until he walked over towards the wall of buttons. Levers and dials turning and pressed. Suddenly once more the house of horrors was alive with the sounds of torture, shrieks of terror, coughing and choking from those who were once more being submerged beneath cold water and lifted again to their safety right before it was too l
ate.
Still dressed in his ominous hunting gear, he turned on the closed circuit televisions, this time the empty screen that was black before was suddenly illuminated with her presence. He smiled and watched her in sheer darkness, eyes glowing green in night vision filter. He loved the look of terror in her eyes more than he ever loved the sight of pleasure. This was his pleasure, his ultimate satisfaction, to collect and keep those who he most desired, and this one was a gift that he’d never again let get away.
Kyle slowly reached towards her face on closed circuit television screen. He smiled warmly from a part of him that he was still quite unfamiliar with, adoration.
“One day you’ll be ready for me.”
As his fingers grazed her cheek she suddenly calmed down, their link was so intrinsic and intense, Kyle felt he had nothing to hide from her. She was the only one that embraced him completely. As his thumb grazed her chin he replied, “Unfortunately for us both…today is not that day.”
Kyle awoke hours later in his bed, sound asleep he hadn’t slept as silent as the grave in more years and lifetimes then he had a chance to contemplate. Before he could relish this serene solitude and new chapter in his life he heard the phone ring.
“What happened to you last night?” A voice asked in a stance of both worry and fear.
“James, I told you I don’t quite remember, I honestly just remember being near the gorge and all of it from there is blank, I knew I shouldn’t have gone off like that but I felt compelled too. As if something incredible was waiting for me out there that not a single soul could understand or grasp.” James responded a bit more calmly but still worried about his friend and employer.
“You were gone for almost two days, when I saw you coming over the hill, dressed like that with a horse and a lot of baggage, you only said one thing to me before you vanished until now.”
Kyle asked. “What was that? What did I say?” James continued; “Return this horse next door where he belongs, before they find out, I have things to tend too down below, take care of the house until I’m ready to surface…”
James chattered on stressfully as Kyle continued to lie back listening, pretending to play daft, to the chaos and mystery of this bizarre series of days.
“Before I could even ask where you’d been, you vanished. I’m really freaking out here man, are you sure you’re okay?”
Kyle responded slowly, calmly and serenely, “Yes, I’m fine, it’s just been a long week, I’ve been working way too hard, I need to slow down before I go over the edge, that’s all.” Kyle looked over at the clock and saw that it was already three o’ clock.
“It’s this late already? Have food ready for us, I’ll be down in half an hour, tell the children to come too.” James agreed and hung-up, wondering what transpired in those hours that his best friend went missing.
Chapter 39:
Immortal Opia
The formal dining room was lavishly set, the sound of laughter echoed through the halls as the lord of Burnett manor descended to his beautiful and loving family once more to share time and space with those innocent beings in the world who had no idea about the dark nature of their beloved patriarch. Tiffany chimed in and asked;
“Dad? Where’s Jess? Isn’t she eating with us?” Adie and Derek started to look his way, his youngest letting her sister know.
“Hey I was just going to ask him that question. Weird.” The children laughed and waited for their father’s response.
He smiled warmly and said, “Unfortunately for Jess, a dear friend of hers from youth passed away recently and she’s quite devastated. I put her on a red-eye flight late last night, she’ll be gone for some time as she needs to tend to many things regarding all that goes into funerals and assisting families through hard times such as these.” The children somberly responded with warm affirmations of love and affection.
“I’m so sorry to hear that dad, I can’t imagine how much pain she’s going through it’s never easy to lose someone we love.” Kyle reached for his eldest daughters hand and lovingly held it.
“I’m sure she’ll appreciate your affections when she returns. I’ll keep you informed I promise.”
In that moment the staff entered with pre-ordered meals from the kitchen. The banter of jokes and games between his younger children were shushed and debated by the sounds of his eldest daughter trying to keep them under control.
Kyle sat there menacingly quiet, calm and calculated, yet seemingly unnoticed by anyone in the room, his elbows resting on the table firmly placed. His strong hands pressed together by just the fingertips, his eyes penetrating with their ominous gaze, searching, looking out into the eyes of those who are reading this very twisted tale, right now... His eyes glowing, staring ever so deeply into the depths of every corner of your soul, expelling and pulling out ever secret that you’ve kept quiet and deep within where you thought nobody in this entire fucking world would ever find it.
As the rooms of his mind echoed and filled with the sounds of begging, pleading and screams of absolution, The Slaughter House Hills Hunters eyes continued to glow meeting your gaze in this very moment as your heart still beats swiftly. Can’t you hear him?
Kyle’s eyes glowed as Darkeel’s voice echoes fill the room with sounds of “Someday,” his voice whispering.
The Slaughterhouse Hills Hunter was never heard from or seen ever again, after that day.
The End…
Epilogue
It all originated with two morbid questions that begged by my dark soul to be answered…
Why do they kill?
Do killers love?
It was in the midst of that dark epiphany that I found myself within a self-imposed exile from the rest of society that never cared to ponder let alone explore or question such ideology that I discovered the very depths of depravity that a single tortured human soul can explore and by the rare circumstances that have left me here wondering just how I survived all of this in an entirely new body. It’s left me with questions answered by many prolific minds and uncaptured serial killers which has brought me to the end of my insane journey and right back to the beginning again; where it all started, into an entirely new chapter of my life thriving within the underworld. To witness just how vividly this adventure of carnage and carnality has taken me over the past thirteen years, as well as realizing just how fortunate I am to have survived the haunting circumstances in the end.
For as I’ve lost so many over the years, including a few of the precious monsters, madmen and madwomen who illustrate the macabre pages of this anthology collection that you’ve read with your very curious eyes. I find solace in the solitude and comfort in the fact that they’re all still out there, existing, thriving and enduring and some even surviving themselves while still seamlessly blending in with society without question; from those of you who work and exist right along beside them in your seemingly ordinary lives.
Where this thirteen year exploration of madness and mayhem, carnality and carnage takes us in the future I cannot be certain…
However, with visions as dark and as grand as the ones I have for transforming Darkeel into a real life serial killer in the realms of independent horror cinema, I am not only sure but absolutely certain that in time those monsters and madmen will be knocking on my door once more in the dead of night, beckoning me to come assist them with bringing our most debauched visions to life within the co-conspirators work to a silver screen slaughterhouse near you.
To further entice prying yet curious eyes, to wander of their own volition into the dark forests on cold brutal nights, never to be seen from; or heard from…ever again.
About The Author
What some have coined as a true renaissance woman of the modern era, when Bella BloodLust isn’t busy fleeing from shackles in desolate dungeons and burying corpses in remote locations, she finds herself immersed in historical iconograph
y, spirituality and bringing aesthetic visions in all realms of media production to life. As a multi-generational shaman she spends the majority of her evenings helping the worldwide spiritual community and solving cold cases as a psychic detective and medium.
However this doesn’t prevent her from following her old world dreams of bringing new bohemia back to the golden age of humanity through burlesque siren performances in a venue for children of the night near you; to traveling across the country for more scintillating work in the underworld as a professional lifestyle mistress and BDSM educator.
In her spare time at home in her penthouse studio that she calls Catwoman’s Lair; she enjoys intensive research in various fields of philosophy, metaphysics, reading, cooking gourmet meals and exploring gourmet pastries in the French fashion. In the end the core of her bloody and beating heart will always belong to writing, it’s still the one place that truly in this world of monsters and madmen that lurk behind the dark corridors of her illustrious mind; that feels entirely like home.
For your private invitation to the 3 ring circus and one woman show visit:
www.BellaBloodLust.com
A Scarlet Collection of Monsters and Madmen Page 50
