by J. Thiele
“If he’d given me a little more attention, perhaps I wouldn’t have gone out looking for it elsewhere,” she justified, “But I did like to show my resentment for those who thwarted me or turned me down. I had such a temper back then. Wrath he called it. The wrath of Astrid,” she chuckled.
Casey recalled her temper when she knocked her unconscious for spitting in her face.
“What is the Latin word for wrath?” she asked.
“Good, you’re learning. Have a guess,” she urged.
Casey thought about it, but came up with nothing.
“Oh for heaven’s sake Casey, think! Obviously it has to start with the letter I.”
Casey still drew a blank.
“Ira Casey! Ira, as in irate. I don’t think you’re even trying Casey. I don’t know why I bother with you. You’re clearly not interested in my story at all.”
“No! No, I am. I’m just thirsty. Please, can I have some water? I promise I’ll try harder,” Casey begged.
“Well, all right then, as long as you promise,” she tilted a water bottle to Casey’s lips and allowed her to drink, before she continued.
“I tried to change my ways. I replaced my lust for love with a lust for food. I craved love so much that I began feeding constantly. I was binging. My gluttony forced us to flee from one town to another just to escape the witch hunt,” She huffed under her breath, “Witch hunt, indeed. I’m not a witch. Do I look like the type of person that would eat lizard’s tongue or dragon’s breath, for Christ’s sake? And they call me a monster. I was just hungry, so sometimes I ate more than my share, and sometimes I ate because I was bored, or lonely or just for the sake of eating. I felt so empty Casey,” she said resting her head on Casey’s chest.
“I know you did,” she sympathised.
“I knew you’d understand,” she said, as she nestled in closer. “He called me, ‘Gula,’ can you believe it? Fucking Gula! It means Gluttony.”
“Shhh,” Casey whispered, “It’s all right. We know the real you, don’t we General?”
“Don’t talk to him! He thinks he knows everything! He’s just as bad as the maker for ignoring my needs, aren’t you?” she looked over at the skull as she spoke, “Well any way,
the last two sins are envy and sloth, ‘Invidia,’ and ‘Acedia.’ The maker said I was all of them, so he took the first sound from each name and created Saligia and called me that from that day on.
The more Casey heard of Astrid’s story, the more she felt for her.
Chapter Thirteen
Kara lifted Rick’s limp body and carried it inside, getting everyone’s attention. She laid him out on the conference table where Pearce covered his eyes with his palm and pulled the lids down. Even in his death, Pearce could see the emptiness and loss in his gaze.
“Rest in peace son. God be with you,” he said, as he placed Rick’s hands across his chest.
“What happened?” Ray asked, “He was fine.”
“He wasn’t fine Ray. He was lost and no one saw it,” Kara snapped.
“I saw it,” Pearce admitted. “I thought he’d snap out of it. I thought if we could just get through this thing with Saligia, we could sit down man to man, or like father and son and nut it out together. I pushed him. This one is on my shoulders.”
Sarah pushed her way past Ray, “On your shoulders? How dare you be so delusional? You were all warned,” she was adamant, “The tea leaves never lie. This is not about you, or Rick or Saligia, this is fate.”
“Someone must die? But that was me…wasn’t it?” Kara questioned.
“You’re a doctor! Feel your pulse, is it beating?” Sarah asked.
Kara placed two fingers under her jaw line and glared at Sarah nodding.
“Then you are very much alive. This was out of everybody’s hands. It’s fate, that’s all.”
“This is going to kill Casey when she finds out, that’s if she isn’t already dead too,” Ray announced.
Clarisse snatched Kara’s wrist. “Casey’s still alive and she’ll already be mourning. She just won’t know why.”
“What? How can you be sure?” Kara asked, reefing her wrist back.
“Your bracelet has forty links. There are five links to each member of your family. Only five have turned black. The spell included detective Casey. She knows of this loss because she is bound by all of you. But you had better hurry her links are beginning to tarnish. This means she is weakening. If you intend to save her, you have to stay focussed or she too will meet her demise.”
“How do we find her? The ceremony of the Holy Grail didn’t work, the location spells didn’t work, what are we meant to do?” Ray asked.
Clarisse’s eyes widened in anger. “Do you give up? Is that how you treat a loved one? Think!”
“Come on son, I think I know what she’s saying,” Pearce took Ray by the elbow.
“You do?”
“We’re detectives, let’s go do what detectives do.”
“What about Rick?” he asked.
“I’ll take care of it,” Kara told him, “I’ll need to call Marie and let her know.”
*****
The phone rang again. Pearce knew who it was immediately, because the phone only rang when there was trouble from the big house.
“Go ahead,” he said, already resigned to the fact there was an ass kicking to be had. “I understand,” he said. Replacing the receiver he looked at the crew, “They’re shutting us down.”
Everybody gathered around while he explained, “They’re saying the list of missing persons is still on the rise, with at least a person a day going missing. They’re being taken right in front of loved ones, work colleagues and on busy streets, and we keep coming up empty handed. Apparently, some crazy woman in costume shows up all demon like and snatches people at random. No one so far has been seen again since their disappearance.”
‘She’s got to be either making an army or building one,” Ray suggested.
Kara closed on the conversation, “Wrong - she’s eating them.”
She sat on the edge of Casey’s desk. “This bitch has an insatiable appetite. I’ve never seen anything like it, constantly feeding, always thirsty for blood, and with no table manners, I might add.”
“Well you’re the only one that knows anything about her kid. We haven’t really had much of a chance to debrief. Why don’t ya tell us everything you can remember about her?” Pearce encouraged.
“Okay, the most significant thing I can tell you is, that she is certifiably nuts! A real fucking fruit loop,” Kara explained. “She has an old skull that she has carried around with her since God only knows when, but it has a name and she talks to it.”
“Oh, like Tom Hanks in Cast Away?” Ray asked, “You know, Wilson, the ball? It was his only companion.”
“Something like that, but creepier,” Kara went on. “She calls it ‘General’, actually asks it for advice and opinions and all. I think it may have been a lover, or a husband or something.”
“A father perhaps?” Pearce suggested.
“No, definitely not a father, way too intimate for that,” she decided. “Regardless of whomever he was, his opinion seemed to matter.”
Kara paused for a moment, then decided to open up and tell them everything, remembering Casey’s life was on the line.
“She’s a nymphomaniac as well.” She looked down to avoid eye contact with anyone.
“She also has an insatiable appetite for sex. Please don’t look at me while I talk, because I won’t ever be able to face you again.”
Everyone averted their eyes and the room grew expectantly quiet. The silence was like being in a Catholic confessional.
“I was raped daily, sometimes twice and three times, especially after feeding. I hate to say this, but if Casey is still alive, she’s not putting up much of a fight. Resistance resulted in a beating. She wasn’t backwards in coming forwards with her wrath.”
Pearce hung his head and slouched, never feeling as helpless as he di
d in this moment.
“I’m not judging her. She’s a fighter and a detective, a trained negotiator and in my eyes a survivor. She will be doing whatever it takes to stay alive. I can’t say it doesn’t feel like I’ve been shot in the heart, when I think about what it would take for her to survive this long with that bitch,” Kasey admitted. Pearce got up from his chair and walked around to take her in his arms.
“We’ll get her back kiddo,” he promised.
Chapter Fourteen
Casey had lost track of how long she’d been held captive. She hadn’t seen the light of day since she was brought underground. It felt like months, but she knew it must have only been weeks. She slept a lot. With nothing to do to pass the time, it seemed like the best way to conserve her strength. Her wrists were raw from her restraints and the constant pressure on them whenever she relaxed or fell asleep. Her steady diet of sushi was beginning to wear thin. She swore to herself that if she got out alive, she would never eat the stuff again.
Saligia was out again on yet another feeding frenzy, she figured without a doubt, Casey knew what that meant when she returned. It had become somewhat of a ritual, but this time was different. When Saligia returned, she had creams and sponges, with water and soap. She seemed a little edgy, and Casey decided to pretend she was asleep to avoid feeling her explosive anger if she displeased the crazy bitch.
“Wake up detective. I have a surprise for you.”
Casey lifted her head. “What are you doing?” she asked cautiously.
“I’m going to let you loose. You’re filthy. You need to clean yourself up. I’ve bought you some new clothes… well actually I stole them,” she blew her fringe out of her eyes, “Technicality,” she smiled. “No matter, they’re here and I brought them for you. I have water and soap and all sorts of goodies for you.” She turned to the General, “I’m sorry my love, but nothing for you this time. You have given me the silent treatment all week, so no surprises for you.” She poked her tongue out childishly at the skull.
She proceeded to release Casey, “If you try to run…well, let’s just say bone does not look good on you,” she pointed to the rotting mass in the corner.
Casey dropped to the ground. Her legs were feeble, her shoulders throbbed from being above her head for far too long and her hands tingled as the blood rushed back towards her starved fingertips.
“Oh come on, we don’t have all day. Here, I’ll help you.”
Saligia pulled her to her feet and helped her to the table. “Let’s get these filthy rags off you.”
Casey stood naked and cold as Saligia began to roughly sponge her from head to toe with cold, soapy water. She’d long passed caring. She was getting clean and her hands were finally by her sides.
“Thank you.” she whispered.
Saligia stopped briefly, then continued to scour her with the cold sponge again. “Don’t thank me. Do you think I want to fuck you when you’re all dirty and smelly? I am a lady after all. Besides your rescuers are looking for you. We don’t want them to think you can’t take care of yourself, do we? ”
The soap and water bit at Casey’s wrists. She feared infection was beginning to set in. Once Saligia was finished washing her, she dried her off then inspected Casey’s injuries. “You really don’t take very good care of yourself do you?” She drew her lips back and exposed her fangs. Casey thought she was going to feed on her, until she punctured her own thumb with one of them, then smeared it over Casey’s wounds. They immediately felt soothed, and when she looked down, even in the dim candle light she could see that the marks were fading before her very eyes.
Casey reached for the clothes that were still in the bag that Saligia had brought in.
“Nu uh,” Saligia teased, wagging her finger at Casey, in a chastising manner, “I think I deserve a little thank you; a reward, don’t you?”
Casey froze. She should have known there would be a payoff of some kind. She was beginning to think she’d been forgotten by the people she called family.
Casey had no way to know that Kara had returned, that the team now included the added strength of the witches joining their cause, that Rick was dead, or that Pearce had been released from the hospital and that he was back at the helm. She was also oblivious to the fact that the search for her was still in progress.
She turned her head to study the rotting corpses she shared her tomb with, reminding herself that anything was better than dead. It all came down to survival. Willing to do whatever it took, she stepped in close and exposed her neck to Saligia. Her fangs were still drawn. She sank them slowly into Casey’s jugular and began to suck from her open vein. Casey unintentionally moaned, the sound exciting Saligia, she slid her bloody thumb up into Casey’s mouth. Casey received her first taste of Saligia’s blood. It was strangely sweet and thirst quenching in an intoxicating way. She sucked it harder, then reached the back of Saligia’s hair pulling her from her neck. They briefly looked into each other’s eyes before their lips crashed against each other.
Casey twisted Saligia around to lay her backward onto the bench, then proceeded to rip her clothes from her body. She began kissing and nipping at Saligia’s cold flesh, down her neck and past her shoulders. She cupped her small tits in each hand and licked and sucked them one at a time, before continuing down her flat stomach to her pubic area. Saligia was losing control. She flipped her legs out from under Casey and threw them over her shoulders. She reached down between her legs, pulling her lower lips apart, encouraging Casey to lick the pussy that had been long neglected.
Casey was about to feast on her swollen clit when Saligia told her to stop.
“I said, STOP!”
Casey looked up at her, “What? What’s wrong?”
“The General’s watching,” Saligia said, with sadness in her eyes.
Casey rose to her feet. Frustrated she said, “This is fucking ridiculous.” She snatched up the bag of clothing and proceeded to get dressed, when Saligia rose behind her delivering a blow to her head.
“Don’t be disrespectful,” she said, as Casey fell to the floor, knocked out cold.
Saligia turned to the General, “I’m sorry my darling. It won’t happen again. Not in front of you, I promise. Oh and forgive the detective. Obviously she was raised on a hog farm or in a brothel, somewhere manners aren’t in their vocabulary, but don’t worry, I’m teaching her.”
*****
Casey woke up spread eagled on the bench. She was tied down at every corner and she could feel Saligia’s tongue licking at her pussy. She looked over at the General to find the skull had been turned to face the wall.
When Saligia realised she was finally awake, she leaped up onto the bench to straddle her, rubbing her open pussy across Casey’s pubic bone. As much as she tried to resist, Casey couldn’t help but thrust her hips forward toward her open cave.
“Ooh that’s it my darling,” Saligia encouraged. “Not like that sanctimonious Rick.”
Casey looked up at her frowning.
“What are you talking about?”
“Oh you know. I tried to get him to fuck me once, but all he could think about was Marie. Marie, Marie, Marie, he would say. Totally killed the mood. Mind you, he didn’t seem to mind me swallowing his cock the way I did. I bet Marie never took his length like I did,” she boasted.
“Wait, you screwed Rick?” Casey asked.
“Well, I tried, but the thought of his ungrateful wife got in the way, and he got all guilty over getting a hard-on for little ole me,” she explained. “I suppose that’s why he killed himself. Pity, he would have been a great fuck if he’d just lightened up.”
“What? Rick’s dead?” Casey head spun.
“Oh, didn’t I tell you? He jumped of that building of yours,” she told her.
Casey’s eyes welled with tears.
“Yes it’s all terribly sad, but oh well, it’s over now. It’s all Kara’s fault you know. She should have saved him. She could have beaten him to the ground and caught him, instead
she just watched on in horror.”
“Kara’s back?”
“Yes she’s back! Now are you going to fuck me or not?” she said, growing agitated.
Knowing that Kara had returned changed everything. Casey not only needed to survive, she needed to get back home.
Chapter Fifteen
Pearce stood in front of a map of the city, pushing push pins into the various locations around the city that people had vanished from. He explained that the majority of them were taken from the East. Headquarters was on the West side. He assumed Saligia was keeping her hunting ground as far away from the team as she could.
“My suspicions are, that she is holding Casey close to her feeding ground,” he concluded.
“What about a location spell now?” Ray asked.
Sarah looked to her aunt for an answer.
“I have already tried, but the East is vast. I sense dirt, foul odour, rotting bodies, hunger.”
Ray interrupted Clarisse, “That bitch has buried her alive!”
“HUSH!” she snapped at him, “The hunger is not detective Casey’s alone.”
“What do you mean, vast?” Pearce asked.
“What lies beyond the city gate, is the remains of someone else’s fate.”
“What does that mean woman? Can’t you stop with all the riddles and just say it?”
Clarisse’s eyes widened at the disrespect of the Captain.
Dominic stood between the aging pair.
“What the Captain means is, he is having difficulty deciphering what the ancestors are telling you.”
“What? Oh yeah, I’m an old man Miss Clarisse, I speak in simple terms. Can you explain what it is they are trying to say?” Pearce quickly realised his error in upsetting the old witch.
“You are the detective. I cannot tell you what you want to know. You have to figure it out.
Kara began to study the map. “What’s outside the city sir?” she asked.
“The whole city is surrounded by woodlands. On the East side,” he approached with his laser pointer, “there are several abandoned ruins. I know this, because about twenty years ago some prick held a woman hostage out there.” He looked down at his feet, “We didn’t find her ‘til it was too late.” He looked up and refocussed. “I believe, unless the council has demolished them or filled them in, there’s about fifty bomb shelters out there too.”