Psycho Killers in Love

by C. T. Phipps

  “Darnit! Fudge!” Nancy cried out, pulling out her M16. Wilbur had tried to use its attached grenade launcher against us, but Nancy used it on the creature.

  Carrie ran across the bridge while Cassie took advantage of the distraction. Our prisoner smashed through the sorority sisters she’d betrayed, grabbing the Necronomicon on her way. They were too preoccupied with the sight of the unspeakable horror in front of them to stop her, letting her return to her masters. I suspected I’d never find out if she was doing all of this of her own free will or not, but suspected Cassandra had always been a monster.

  “Back away!” Summer shouted, ordering her sorority sisters as she took a defensive posture. Unfortunately, this didn’t prove to be a proper response, though, as her legs were wrapped up by one of the tentacles that whipped her into the air before dragging her down into the water.

  “Summer!” Nancy shouted, continuing to shoot at the monster. The tentacles thrashed down at her, only to be seemingly repelled by an invisible aura around her. More evidence of the Artemis’ strange abilities.

  Faced with the fact that Nancy’s sister was about to die right before her eyes, the survivors were about to be killed by an inter-dimensional monster, and my sister was chasing a cobra into their lair. I made a stupid decision and leapt into the water after Summer.

  William, what are you doing? The Spirit of the Hunt spoke in my mind.

  Trying to be a hero, I thought. There’s a first time for everything.

  That is not what is you are for, the Spirit of the Hunt replied blandly. Nor is it something you can do.

  I discovered the glowing waters were an additional level of fakery and charlatanism as I found myself tasting pool water rather than anything resembling natural supplements. There were lights on at the bottom of the artificial cavern as well as neon paint on the sides and ground. Dye or something like it was floating toward the top of the water’s surface.

  Beyond the surface dye, the bottom of the artificial lake was blue and clear with the exceptions of the rocky bottom and enormous horror. Bits of bodies and skeletons surrounded the inky-black mass of tendrils that filled perhaps a good quarter of the chamber’s bottom. If I had to describe my environment, I would say that it reminded me of a large fish tank. It made the Fraternity of Orion feel more ridiculous because they’d created this ridiculous place to dump their bodies and serve as the shoggoth’s living space. They were so rich and stupid that they’d built an aquarium for a monster that was humanity’s superior in many ways. I briefly wondered what the shoggoth must think of this nightmare.

  The shoggoth’s tentacles were lashing out in every direction with a few pieces of monster falling from the top of the surface around me, cut away by Nancy’s gunfire or blown to bits by the grenade. The creature’s central mass looked like a thousand human-ish eyes next to a thousand mouths full of needle-like teeth. The water around it shimmered and shook as its presence disrupted the laws of physics. Bubbles floated up and I saw things inside them that didn’t make sense. My father’s face laughing at me, Nancy and I naked under a set of covers, the streets running dead with the blood of humans, and Puritans hanging my ancestors.

  Pay no attention to that, the Spirit of the Hunt said. They are moments in time that you do not want to get caught up in.

  I do not understand, I said.

  Because you’re only human, the Spirit of the Hunt said. Leave this alone.

  No, I said.

  Fool, the Spirit of the Hunt replied. You do not wish to know your destiny.

  I make my own, I replied, and it sounded laughable even to me. Still, I persevered on and saw the person I was seeking.

  How badly I’d underestimated Summer was on display as I saw her stabbing eye after eye, drawing black inky ichor with each blow. The cheerleader-looking Artemis was striking at the creature’s heart and didn’t seem to be in any danger, at least any that she couldn’t handle. That was when I found myself grabbed by the legs and dragged down to the creature’s central mass. I stabbed at it my knife and stabbed again. Each of the cuts seemed to do minimal damage while I felt my power leave me.

  The shoggoth was not my sort of prey. Its mind was alien and malevolent, sentient, but absent anything resembling conventional morality. I couldn’t draw on a sense of guilt or even a universal sense of justice because it was as wild and amoral as an animal. I was little more than a particularly hard to kill human facing it and it was so much more. Still, I stabbed at it and resisted even as it threatened to crush my ribs.

  Summer swamp up beside me, and then lifted her spear up to impale me, a look in her eye of pure outrage at my existence in her eyes. Then, much to my surprise, she stabbed through the tentacle holding me and pulled me away from the monster’s grip. The shoggoth reached out for us both, only for Nancy to land on top of it, slashing repeatedly with her machete until the creature started its death throes.

  Summer pulled me to the shore of the artificial lake in front of a maintenance tunnel and then hurled me out of the water like I was a limp doll. I landed on the ground, sucking in a breath of desperately needed oxygen before she pulled herself out of the water.

  The artificial hallway was disguised with a fake cavern entrance and led to a long corridor filled with shelves and a metal doorway at the end. Summer aimed her spear at me for a second before turning it up and using it like a staff to lean on. “What the hell did you think you were doing back there?”

  I coughed some foul-tasting water from my mouth. I’d swallowed some of the dye floating at the top of the lake. “Trying to save you.”

  Summer stared at me skeptically. “Are you an idiot?”

  “Apparently,” I replied, climbing to my feet. I was soaking wet, covered in luminescent dye, and feeling like a fool. Neither of the Artemises had needed my help and I’d only managed to get in the way. I should have hung back and provided support, but I’d been overwhelmed by a need to prove myself. It seemed Billy and the asylum’s influence were going to be harder to shake than I’d thought.

  “I can’t believe I saved you,” Summer muttered.

  “Me either,” I said, looking at my drenched attire. “Notable fact, a suit is not the best clothing for swimming in. Also, you should take your rifle off before jumping into the water.”

  I proceeded to remove the now water-logged object and placed it to one side. “Thank you for your assistance.”

  Summer looked at me. Intently.

  I stared at her. “What?”

  “I’m looking for the dead innocents,” Summer said.

  I looked away. “There are things I’m guilty of but I only started killing yesterday. So far, it’s been those who have the blood of innocents on their hand. There will be an accounting, but what I owe and what I’m owed are not yet determined.”

  “What, are you like the Accountant or something?” Summer asked.

  “Excuse me?” I asked.

  “Accounting, owe, owed,” Summer said.

  I blinked. “I swear, I’m not doing it deliberately. The dialogue is coming naturally. It’s calculated to earn the most meaning out of my word budget. I’d love to write it off, but it just keeps accumulating.”

  Summer stared.

  “Okay, that one was deliberate,” I replied, crossing my arms. “But I’m not your enemy. Is Nancy alright?”

  Summer gave a very-very brief glance over her shoulder to see her sister pop up over the now inky-black waters from where the shoggoth had been destroyed—assuming it could be destroyed. Nancy gave a thumbs up before swimming back to the land bridge.

  Nancy started jogging after the others, machete in hand. Wilbur’s M16 was abandoned on the ground and I suspected she’d used all its ammunition on the monster we’d just slain. Well, for some value of we. A more accurate summation would be the monster the Weiss Sisters had slain.

  “Yeah, she’s fine,” Summer said. “I still don’t trust you, though. In fact, I’m pretty sure I should kill you outright. It would save my sister and I a lo
t of trouble when you inevitably turn evil. You can’t help it, it’s in your blood.”

  She’s right, the Spirit of the Hunt said.

  “Then why did you save me?” I asked, bluntly.

  Summer looked at me with a mixture of frustration and anger. “Because sometimes my sister’s big heart and soft head gets to me.”

  “Your sister is a very intelligent woman,” I replied. “She also risked everything to get here.”

  “Oh my god, you’re fucking,” Summer said, horrified.

  “You have a very foul mouth too,” I replied.

  “Screw you,” Summer said.

  I snorted. “In any case, she can take care of herself. Now with the shoggoth dead, we need to get the others to safety.”

  “I’m not taking orders from you,” Summer said, pausing. “I’m just going to do that because it’s the sensible thing to do right now.”

  I smirked. “Of course.”

  “Now stop looking at my chest,” Summer said, holding her spear in front of it. “I didn’t get wet to give you a show.”

  I looked at her, confused. “Why would I look at your chest?”

  Summer glared and walked past me. “Asshole.”

  “What?” I asked, even more confused.

  Hahahahaha, the Spirit of the Hunt laughed. I knew it was a good idea to throw you into this shark tank.

  Shoggoth tank, I corrected her. She is a spitfire. Like her sister.

  Wait ’til you meet their mother and grandmother, the Spirit of the Hunt said.

  I thought they were dead, I replied, surprised.

  Oh, you’re so cute. You really do believe your girlfriend trusts you, don’t you? The Spirit of the Hunt mocked. Every other word out of her lips is a lie. It’s how she was raised.

  I didn’t dignify that with a response. Following Summer, I felt a pain in my stomach and a headache that grew more painful with each passing second. There was a booming in my mind that became like a field of artillery going off. My mind sensed not only dozens of murderers coming our way but things that were much more powerful.

  Slashers.

  Not just regular slashers, though, but ones that ticked off my need to destroy them in a way that others didn’t. Billy, Marge, and my sister hadn’t made me want to destroy them. Well, at least any more than their actions normally would have. No, there was an all-powerful and all-consuming need inside me to destroy them that seemed even greater than my thirst to slay murderers. I didn’t understand it, but I knew the urge came from the Mark of Cain on my left hand, burning and pulsing with alien energy.

  What have you done? I asked the Spirit of the Hunt.

  I’ve done you favors, the Spirit of the Hunt said. Now you’ll do me favors.

  What kind of favors? I asked.

  What you do best, the Spirit of the Hunt said. Or did you think that Billy directed you here on his own?

  So much for making my own destiny.

  “We need to move now,” I said to Summer as she reached the end of the corridor. “They’re in danger.”

  “No kidding,” Summer said, looking back. “Get your freak on, freak.”

  It wasn’t the most inspiring motivational speech I’d ever heard but it was better than some.

  I clutched my knife tightly and advanced to the door. It was time to do some slashing.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Mercenaries.

  I hated mercenaries.

  I could smell the twin allure of both cash and blood radiating from the individuals moving around like cockroaches outside of the doorway in front of me. I had felt disgust toward Charles Devinshire and loathing toward the meth dealers, but these individuals invoked both. I wondered if Summer could feel them moving around and looked down at them.

  “Do you sense them?” I asked.

  “Only the slashers,” Summer said. “Are there more?”

  “Oh yes,” I said, closing my eyes and trying to feel out from my weird psychic ability to sense sin.

  Out of the air I picked out the name “Son of Mars” and got a variety of visions for the corporation hired by the Cassidys as a security company to protect their assets in South America as well as Africa after the Vietnam War. Once they had been monster hunters but they’d long since abandoned that practice. They were now drawn from people who couldn’t make it as members of the United States military, the dishonorably discharged or the never accepted in the first place. They were toy soldiers who would be preparing for race wars were it not for the luxury of being paid to kill brown people.

  Their murders were many. People were kidnapped from their homes, tortured, and executed. Homes were burned down. There was very little “war” being fought by these individuals, but their campaigns of terror worked well. In the end, by the time I sensed the fact they provided security and victims for these “hunts”, it was almost incidental to the mechanized industrial evil that they were all part of. They were all members of the Fraternity of Orion, but were paid cultists rather than true believers.

  “How many?” Summer asked.

  “A dozen at least,” I replied. “They’re searching for the survivors in the tunnels.”

  “Then we need to move,” Summer said. “Even though we’re soaking wet and leaving a trail with every step.”

  “We should split up,” I replied. “Assuming you’re willing to kill humans.”

  “All monsters were humans once,” Summer said. “At least the ones I’ve encountered.”

  Not all monsters were humans, the Spirit of the Hunt replied. Just the worst of us.

  “Alright,” I replied, trying to control my urges. I wanted them. I wanted them all to die by my hand.

  Summer’s hand went to the door and she looked up at me. “Can you sense the slashers?”

  I closed my eyes. “Yes, but I shouldn’t be able to.”

  “Keep track of them too,” Summer replied. “They could fuck us up royally. We’ll stick together and you can tell me where the others are.”

  “As you wish,” I said, trying to sense the slashers as well. I had a bad feeling that they knew where we were every bit as well as I knew where they were.

  Yes, the Spirit of the Hunt replied. But don’t worry, they won’t interfere in your hunt.

  What? I asked.

  The Spirit of the Hunt laughed. Don’t worry, this is just a warmup. Well, unless you die. Then I’ll have to rely on your sister for my entertainment.

  I was starting to hate the Spirit of the Hunt, but that didn’t change anything. I was reliant on her power to know where the others were. The slashers felt different from the mercenaries moving around the black void I could see beyond the door. They weren’t my prey and I wasn’t zeroing in on them as such despite what the Spirit of the Hunt indicated. Instead, it was more that I could sense their power. They were fellow predators—competitors in the wild if you will. It meant my power was growing, considerably since last night and perhaps related to the Mark of Cain on my hand that seemed to throb with their presence.

  I couldn’t see their specific crimes, but from one I caught brief glimpses of a suburban street, a blonde woman who looked a lot like Nancy and Summer, plus a chef’s knife that was soaked in blood. Those are distinctly different from butcher’s knives, by the way. It’s a common mistake to confuse the two. The sensation shifted to another slasher and I saw a child’s bedroom, a sleeping child with a furry hand holding a razorblade standing over him, and a toddler’s eye view of a house. It was a terrifying sort of vision that I had to wonder what slasher that was.

  “I think one of the slashers is Mike,” I replied, just as Summer was about to open the door. “The slasher who stalked your mom.”

  Summer paused and looked over my shoulder. “Yeah, I think you’re right.”

  “I suppose you want to go after him,” I replied.

  Summer surprised me. “No, I’m more concerned about rescuing my sister. I’m afraid she’ll go after him. Our chief priority is getting my sorority sisters out. Your sist
er, too, unless she’s stupidly gotten herself killed chasing the Necronomicon.”

  “If the Fraternity of Orion gets ahold of the Necronomicon again then they will possess the power to end the world,” I replied. “Whether known as the Book of Midnight or the Tome of Darkness, it is linked to the Great Beasts and can bring those few locked away in Hell to this reality to end creation.”

  Summer blinked. “Okay, then let’s hope she gets the book back.”

  “Agreed,” I replied. “There’s two soldiers right outside the door.”

  “Right,” Summer said, swinging open the door at speeds approaching a car driving on the freeway. The metal door slammed into their faces as we both immediately moved around the door.

  The Sons of Mars mercenaries were a pair of heavily armored soldiers with body armor, Advanced Combat Helmets, and Zeus-12 assault rifles that were inappropriate for this tight level of corridor. Summer had moved behind the one on my left, a woman, and was strangling her with her own rifle. I simply grabbed the second one by his face using my left hand, driving my fingers deep within his tissue, and pushed him down to the ground with a thud that probably cracked his skull. Too horrified by my actions and the element of surprise, he had no time to scream. I proceeded to press down my foot on his neck and crushed it. He died seconds later from asphyxiation.

  As Summer finished strangling her opponent, she looked at me. “You know you have a knife, right?”

  I looked down at the knife in my right. “You’re right, I do.”

  I felt the Mark of Cain on my change again and shook my head. I put the knife away before dragging the two bodies into the corridor we just exited. I would have taken their helmet radios but there was no point as I could sense all the remaining killers nearby.

  “Is it a slasher thing?” Summer asked.

  “Apparently,” I said. “Why aren’t you taking their guns?”

  Summer shrugged. “Too much noise. It’d bring the entire compound down on us.”

  She had a point there. “Does this mean that we’re cool?”