by K X Douglas
Peter dressed himself, glad that he didn’t have to keep showering to get rid of the smell of sewage. After making sure that the book was hidden under his mattress again, he went outside and locked the door behind him.
“Peter!” Victoria shouted.
He froze in place, key still inside the lock. Looking over towards their dorm room, he saw her waving. She was wearing a raincoat over a short, frilly black dress and holding an umbrella in her other hand.
“Where have you been?” she asked as she ran over to him. “Heidi and I came by yesterday looking for you, but you didn’t answer. We didn’t even know if you made it home okay Monday night.”
“Oh, shit, sorry about that,” Peter replied, an expression of mild shock on his face. “I ended up walking home really early in the morning on Tuesday. You must’ve come by when I was in the library. I was looking into the person who died that night.”
“So do you have any idea what happened? I remember you saying that someone was murdered?”
“Yeah. Yeah, someone was murdered. Here, I should open the door so we can get out of the rain.”
They both stepped inside, and Peter shut the door behind them. Peter took off his hoodie and hung it over an open closet door so that it could dry off.
“Did you have to talk to the cops?” she asked.
“No, I avoided that by getting out of the club before the police arrived. I actually ran into a private investigator who was hanging around, and I told him about what I saw.”
“A private investigator? I didn’t know those were still a thing. I…I can’t believe someone was murdered there. I remember seeing on the news that people were disappearing from the area, but I thought it was just people getting lost…or at worst, abducted.”
“We’re pretty sure that they’re all dead. We found a couple of corpses by the river.”
“Oh my fucking god! Did you find the murder weapon?”
Should I tell her the truth? Or should I make something up? If I make something up, like saying that it was a knife, I won’t have her asking any weird questions.
“No, we didn’t. The corpses looked really weird, though. Like they were heavily disfigured.”
“Did you find any other leads?”
“We found one. How do I put this? We have a very narrow criteria for suspects; they all bought something at a specific auction.”
“That’s weird. How did you find that out?”
“Umm…it’s hard to explain.”
“Complicated, huh?”
“You could say that.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re okay. Can we, uh, can we talk about something else? Something that isn’t murder? This is really depressing, what with the weather and all.”
“What did you and Heidi end up doing after leaving the club?”
“We took a cab home and watched a couple of movies. Nothing exciting.”
Well, that’s a relief.
“Nothing weird happened?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve been having a somewhat bizarre week, what with some of the parties I’ve been to, some of the people I’ve met, the night at the club, the investigations since then, stuff like that. Plus the nightmare I had last night…so I’m a bit stressed out.”
“Oh, damn.”
“So how’s your week been?”
“It’s gone alright, except for the night at the club. I’ve mostly been preparing for classes and going to parties with the neighbours.”
“You’re taking political science, right?”
“Right. I’d like to maybe work at the legislature one day. Maybe even Parliament.”
“That’s cool. What’s your schedule like?”
“It’s pretty good. My classes are evenly spread out, so I have a decent amount of free time every day. Hey, you want to head to campus and get breakfast? I haven’t eaten anything yet today.”
“Sure!”
Summerfield Academy’s campus had a small food court with a handful of different stalls and a seating area meant to accommodate well over one hundred students.
Peter and Victoria ordered breakfast sandwiches and coffee and sat at one of the tables. The stools were made of steel, which made them too uncomfortable to sit at for long periods of time, and they were attached to the floor.
Due to Peter’s lack of need for sleep, caffeine had no effect on him. He looked at the black coffee that he had ordered with apprehension.
“Never had coffee from here before?” Victoria asked.
“From anywhere.”
“Oh my god, really? You’re gonna have to get used to it because you’ll be drinking a lot of it in college!”
Peter tried to take a sip through the plastic lid, but the coffee was too hot; the burn actually stung a little despite his general inability to feel pain.
“You have to wait for it to cool down first unless you want to burn the inside of your mouth!” she said.
“Do you drink a lot of coffee?”
“Fuck yeah I do. Coffee is love. Coffee is life.”
A few minutes later, Victoria started to drink her coffee, and Peter took that as the sign that his had cooled down enough to drink as well. Not knowing anything about coffee, he had ordered it black, and it tasted profoundly bitter.
Tastes like burnt flesh. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to get used to this.
“What kind of coffee did you get?” he asked. “I’m thinking I’ll try something else next time.”
“I got a mocha. It’s got chocolate in it.”
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
Peter lifted the cup to his mouth and downed it as quickly as he could. He did his best to ignore the taste, but he found himself grimacing nonetheless.”
Victoria giggled.
“Maybe you’re more of a tea person?”
“Yeah, maybe. So tell me, do you have any cool hobbies?”
Victoria looked around her, as if to make sure that nobody was eavesdropping on them. She leaned forward.
“Promise not to laugh?” she whispered.
Wait, what?
“I promise.”
“I’m really into, like, occult stuff. Like Wicca. I know that’s such a stereotypical goth thing to be into.”
Dammit. First Isabelle; now I have Victoria to worry about.
“I’m sorry, I don’t really know anything about Wicca,” he lied.
“Don’t worry, I don’t hex people, or sacrifice animals or anything like that. I don’t worship Satan, either. I’m not a member of a coven, so my beliefs are kind of eclectic. I mostly do rituals on the esbats and sabbats.”
“Sounds interesting.”
“Hey, you know, Mabon is in a few weeks. It’s a sabbat. Maybe you could join me for my ritual if you want to learn more about it?”
Shit. Does she have one of Tadhg’s books? Is she going to be casting some kind of spell? I should join her just to make sure nothing goes horribly wrong.
“Sure.”
A few minutes later, they finished eating and got up from their seats.
“Here,” Victoria said as she handed Peter a small piece of paper. “We should exchange phone numbers. That way I can get a hold of you when the time comes.”
Once Peter finished entering her number into his phone, he wrote down his own on the other side and gave it back to her.
“I’ve got some stuff to do today,” Victoria said. “See you in class?”
“Yeah.”
After Victoria left, Peter returned to his dorm and opened up Von Unaussprechlichen Kulten to where he left off. He ended up reaching the three-quarters point by midnight. In doing so, he found a couple of spells that he thought he ought to try casting. Unfortunately, he still didn’t find the spell that he was looking for.
Again, he was tired. Unusually so; he felt his eyelids become heavy, and tried to fight off the urge to fall asleep in his chair.
I’m starting to think that the spell might not be in this book. If it’s not
, I’m not sure where else to look for leads on the case. Hopefully, Professor Carter will know where to look next. At least I’ve found some other spells that might prove useful in the future.
He looked over at the clock, and the realization dawned on him.
Oh, right, classes start tomorrow. I won’t have as much time in the coming weeks, so I should probably try to finish reading this book tomorrow - wait, no, I have plans tomorrow night; I’m going to be spending time with Heidi. Weekend it is then.
Peter climbed into bed and dozed off, anticipating a return to the faraway world with green skies and oceans of slime. He dreamt again, returning to the same place, anticipating the swarm of strange flying insect-things. However, he was more lucid this time, and he found himself able to look around more.
He looked to one side and saw a human wandering across the wastelands at his side. This person was wearing long, voluminous robes which concealed their body and a mask which obscured their facial features.
“Who are you?” The person asked him in a distorted, inhuman voice. “How did you obtain the book?”
CHAPTER NINE
Peter stared at the person, for a moment unsure how to respond.
“How did you obtain the book?” they responded, this time louder and more impatient.
“I found it in a library. Someone just left it there, next to normal books.”
The person made a disgruntled gargling sound.
“You fool! You don’t understand what you’re tampering with here!”
Peter tried to transform into his true form, but found himself unable to; his flesh simply wouldn’t budge.
Dammit, why am I stuck in my human form here of all places?
“I probably understand it better than you do, if you’re a human. I’m sure that this isn’t just a dream anymore. We’re actually here, on this planet, aren’t we?”
“You’re right. We’re projecting our consciousnesses to this planet.”
Peter looked towards the horizon and saw the swarm of mi-go approaching.
“Does what you’re looking for here have anything to do with the mi-go?” he asked.
“Yes, it does,” the stranger said. “But it’s something a kid like you wouldn’t understand.”
You have no idea how badly I wish I could just transform and eat you alive right now.
The swarm arrived and began prodding at both of them as they had before. After a few minutes, Peter woke up.
He sat up on his bed and looked into his hands. Eyes and mouths formed on his palms for a moment before breaking down and returning to human flesh.
I have a clue now as to who was behind the murders, but at the same time I don’t.
Peter looked at the clock and saw that it was already six in the morning; he had class in just a few hours.
The day’s classes were uneventful, mostly due to the fact that Peter was taking first year intro classes. For the most part, the professors handed out class syllabi and talked about what to expect from the material.
After they were over, Peter decided to loiter around campus for a while. It was mid-afternoon, and he had at least a couple of hours before he was to meet with Heidi. However, he didn’t want to risk another night of exhaustion by reading the book. He didn’t run into anyone that he knew, so he returned to his dorm after about an hour.
On his way there, he ran in to Heidi.
“Hey Peter, you’re free, right?” she asked. For some reason, she seemed excited, even giddy.
“Yeah, you said you wanted to get together tonight?”
“Yup! How does six sound?”
“Sounds good.”
“Make sure you’re sober, by the way.”
“Alright.”
***
Peter arrived at Heidi and Victoria’s dorm at the appointed time. He didn’t bother to dress up, instead opting to wear his usual ensemble; she hadn’t told him that they were going somewhere with a dress code.
The door opened, and he saw Heidi standing at the threshold. She was wearing a latex leotard, thigh-high pumps and leather armbands, and she was holding a riding crop in one hand.
“Come in,” she said with a sly smile.
Peter stepped into the dorm room and looked around.
“Victoria’s got a class tonight.”
“You didn’t tell her that I was coming over?”
“Nope! This is going to be our little secret. Let’s go to my bedroom. Bring your shoes.”
When she opened the bedroom door, Peter saw a variety of implements set up around the bed, including the handcuffs that Heidi had mentioned before. The lights were off, the curtains were drawn, and lit candles were placed on the dresser and nightstand. He could smell a variety of spicy, earthy scents that he couldn’t quite place as well as the scent of roses.
I have no idea what is going on.
Heidi shut the door behind them.
“The safe word is aardvark. If I do anything to you that makes you uncomfortable, or that you don’t like, just say that word and I’ll stop. If you can’t say it for some reason, then snap your fingers instead. Now, get on the bed and strip down to your underwear.”
Peter did as he was instructed, removing his clothing and scattering it on the floor. To the eyes of any other person, Peter appeared to have a normal, fully functional human body.
Once he was almost naked, Heidi took the handcuffs from the dresser and walked over to the bedside.
“Lay on your stomach and hold out your arms.”
He assumed the position, and Heidi placed one set of handcuffs on each of his wrists. They were made of padded black leather and fastened with adjustable belt buckles. She then pulled a long iron chain out from under the bed - it looked as though it extended from one side of the bed to the other underneath - and attached the handcuffs to each end. She pulled out another chain and bound his feet the same way, so that he was spread-eagled on his stomach.
She caressed his naked back from neck to waist. Her hands were surprisingly warm.
“I’ve been looking forward to this,” she said. “Some alone time between the two of us.”
I really don’t get this, but okay. If anything happens, it should be easy enough for me to just slip out when she isn’t looking.
She struck him across the back with the riding crop, but it didn’t hurt. He wasn’t sure if that was due to his pain tolerance or because she wasn’t striking him very hard.
“How’s that?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Does it hurt?”
“No.”
She continued striking him, now slightly harder. He still didn’t feel any pain. Slowly she began to aim further down his back, then to his ass, and then alternating between legs.
“I’m surprised. This isn’t even leaving any marks. First time that’s happened.”
“I’m relieved that this is something you’ve done before.”
“Oh, yeah, I’ve done this a few times.”
The session went on for a few more minutes before she walked back to the foot of the bed.
“I’m going to try something a little different now. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, but it’s…um…a bit weird. Now I promise I’m not going to do anything that would hurt you, but this did scare off my last boyfriend. Remember the safe word.”
Heidi grabbed a small shovel-like implement from her dresser and walked over to a long canister covered in WHMIS symbols that was set on the floor next to it. She turned a valve on it and a jet of blue flame sprayed out of the nozzle on the end. Next, she waved the implement in front of the flame until the edge began to glow red-hot.
What is she doing?
“Since you’ve been a good boy tonight, I think I’m going to give you a little reward.”
The next thing Peter knew, his back was being burned as she pressed the red-hot branding iron against his skin.
It actually hurt.
“Aardvark! Aardvark!” he screamed.
Heidi
stopped what she was doing immediately.
“Are you okay?”
“I don’t like fire. I really don’t like fire, heat, anything like that.”
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry.”
Peter heard a small clang, followed by the sound of Heidi rushing to his side. She began to undo the restraints, allowing him to move again. Once he was free, she climbed onto the bed and embraced him.
“I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you like that.”
They lay there for a few minutes, with Peter in the little spoon position. Eventually, he turned over to face her.
“Are you going to be okay?” she whispered.
“Yeah.”
Her face broke out into a soft smile, and she ran her hand through his hair.
“I’m glad. I’m so sorry. I was lost in the moment and got carried away.”
She let go of him and sat up on the bed.
“Is it okay if I take a look at your back? I’ve got some aloe vera I can put on it.”
“Sure.”
“Okay, sit up.”
Heidi ran to the bathroom and returned with a green plastic bottle. She squirted its contents into an open hand and began rubbing it into Peter’s back. The area where he was branded instantly felt much colder.
I hope I can hide that by shapeshifting later.
She continued to massage his back for a while, without saying anything. After a few minutes, the pain faded, and she was able to touch the place where he had been branded without him experiencing any discomfort.
Despite all attempts to relax, Peter found his thoughts wondering back to the dream he had the previous night.
I’m not sure how to go about finding out who that person is. Come to think of it, I’m not even sure if they live nearby, or if they’re even who I’m looking for.
“Peter? Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Sorry, I was just thinking about stuff. I’ve had a pretty stressful week.”
“Is this about the night at the club?”
“That’s part of it. Some other things have happened since then. On top of that, I’ve been having nightmares lately and they’re making me lose sleep.”
