Deceased Dora

by Claire Chilton

  “This is not the time for sexting.” Lucian muttered as purple smoke billowed around his hands.

  The vampire dropped the phone, which was now a burnt crisp, and he shivered all over. He stared at the group for a moment while his burnt skin instantly healed.

  With a roar, he launched at Dora again, this time taking her by surprise and wrapping one hand around her throat.

  He dragged her backwards away from the group. “Stay back or I’ll kill her.” “Stay back or I’ll kill her.” He snarled as he hauled her against him.

  She struggled against the vampire, but his arm around her neck felt like an iron bar.

  Kieron narrowed his eyes at the creature, his body tensed and ready to strike. “Let her go!”

  “Nobody moves, or I’ll rip out her throat.” The vampire shielded himself with her body.

  She felt his grip tighten around her throat, but tried to pull away from him anyway. It wasn’t as if she needed the air.

  He pushed her head sideways, and she felt his teeth graze her neck.

  “Let her go.” Kieron ground out as he slowly moved towards them, an inch at a time.

  The vampire must have noticed because he sank his teeth into her neck.

  Her pulse raced. She tried to fight her way out of his grip, but the vampire didn’t budge. She glanced at Kieron.

  He froze on the spot, staring at her with a helpless look in his eyes.

  She breathed a sigh when she felt the vampire jump, and his fangs left her neck as his arm released her.

  She ran into Kieron’s arms while pressing her hand against her wounded neck.

  She spun around when the vampire groaned, just in time to see the vampire fall forward, cupping his balls.

  Behind him stood Pooey with his arm extended to the place where the vampire’s balls had once resided. His eyes were narrowed in determination, and his fist was tightly clenched.

  “Ooh, low blow.” Lucian laughed. “But I do like your style.”

  Dora stepped forward, staring down at her attacker. The vampire knelt on the road, whimpering. He peered up at her, and she raised her foot and kicked him in the face with all her might.

  His head knocked back, and he flipped over onto his back with his eyes closed. She nudged his head with her foot, but he didn’t flinch.

  “Let’s dust him,” Lucian said.

  “Let’s just get out of here.” She shook her head.

  “Are you sure?” Kieron wrapped his arms around her waist and gently touched her neck.

  She felt a warm tingling and noticed his hand glowing with a golden light. When he removed his hand, the pain in her neck disappeared.

  “Yeah, more vampires will mean more trouble, and we have enough trouble right now.” She scooped up Pooey into her arms.

  “Let’s just get to the church as fast as we can.”

  “So, are you an angel now?” Pooey broke the silence and peered down at Kieron from Peggy’s back.

  “What? No, don’t be stupid,” Kieron said as they walked down the street towards the church.

  “You healed Dora like one,” Pooey said.

  Dora touched her neck. There wasn’t a scratch on it. It felt as if nothing had happened to her.

  She glanced at Kieron.

  Is he becoming more angelic now?

  “Demons can heal too.” Kieron shook his head, stubbornly refusing to accept his angelic side.

  “If it looks like an angel and acts like one …” Pooey trailed off.

  “If it looks like a teddy bear,” Kieron muttered.

  Pooey snarled, and his tiny fangs popped out.

  “You’re all screwed up,” Lucian said. “It’s like studying a band of supernatural rejects.”

  “Oh yeah, then what the hell are you?” Dora asked.

  It was true that they were all a bit messed up. No one seemed happy with their new lives on Earth, but there had to be a way to fix it all.

  “I’m whatever I want to be.” Lucian beamed a self-satisfied smile.

  “And you chose to be a master of bullshit, riding in on a skanky steed?” Pooey asked incredulously.

  Lucian narrowed his eyes, and Dora giggled.

  “You’re going to make a great display in a toy store, fur-ball.” Lucian scowled at Pooey.

  “You’re going to make a great character in World of Warcraft,” Pooey said. “I can just see eight million noobs pwning your ass.”

  “No one can destroy me!” Lucian cried.

  “Yeah? That’s what the Lich King said, and now a couple of nubs on recruit-a-friend can one-shot him.”

  Lucian growled and narrowed his eyes at Pooey.

  He opened his mouth as if to reply, but closed it when Kieron spoke up.

  “Who’s the Lich King?” Kieron asked.

  “It’s this world I discovered while I was held captive,” Pooey replied. “I’ve got a level ninety warlock in full epics now.”

  Kieron looked around. “Where is he?”

  “It’s a game,” Dora said.

  “They keep innocent warlocks in games?” Kieron appeared distressed by the thought.

  “No, they’re fictional—” She stopped talking as the spires of the church appeared in the distance.

  A shiver of fear shot up her spine. They appeared darker than she remembered.

  She knew it was the only place they could go, but every essence of her being was screaming for her to turn around. It was the last place she wanted to go.

  Especially now that I am a demon.

  “Home sweet home,” Lucian said as they crossed an empty street and walked towards the desolate-looking church.

  It was situated on the edge of town with a few broken down buildings surrounding it. Behind it were fields of crops and farmlands stretching out for miles.

  Dora glanced back at the busier part of town, wishing to return to the bustling streets that were full of life.

  The church seemed so desolate and dark to her now. It brought back childhood memories, but along with them came the memories of her torture too. The bad outweighed the good, and she couldn’t find anything good in this place.

  She shook her head and tried to rationalise her feelings, but it all felt so dark. As they neared the front gate, she forced herself to keep walking.

  We don’t have a choice. There is nowhere else to go.

  She pushed open the rickety iron gate and forced herself to step through it.

  Was it always so broken here?

  She tried to remember if the gate had been so rusted and old when she had lived here. For all her bad memories, the place seemed to have fallen apart in her absence.

  She stopped, and the group stopped behind her.

  “What?” Kieron asked.

  “Something’s wrong,” she said.

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  “Can’t you feel it? This place wasn’t this broken last time we were here.” She stared up at the chipped stone and rotten wooden beams of the church exterior. “How long have we been gone?”

  “It was only a few months in Earth time,” Kieron said as he glanced around at the overgrown garden of weeds on either side of them.

  She stared at her home. It didn’t even feel like home anymore. Everything in it was rotten and broken.

  She picked up a twisted lawn chair that she remembered had been new only a few months ago. It was rusted so badly that the seat had eroded away into nothing.

  “How is this even possible?”

  “Argh!” Lucian yelped behind them.

  She spun around to see him pick up a moss-covered stone and prepare to launch it towards the ground floor window of the church.

  “What the fuck are you doing?”

  “Spider!” Lucian squealed like a six-year old girl.

  “Are you kidding me? You’re scared of a tiny spider?” She scowled at him and motioned for him to put the rock down.

  “Tiny? It was the size of Pooey!” Lucian shook his head and continued brandishing the hefty s
tone.

  “Wait!” Carissa cried. “Don’t hurt him. It’s Morty.”

  Dora turned towards the front door and saw Mortimus skittering towards them. He wore a tea towel around him as a makeshift apron.

  “I haven’t seen a demonic arachnid that big in a long time,” Kieron said in awe.

  “Hi Mortimus, do you remember me?” Dora asked him as he drew near.

  “Of course I do! I’m not a goldfish ma’am. I remember many things,” he replied.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “Master called me to clean up the mess, but there’s quite a lot to do. And …” Mortimus sighed.

  “What?” She frowned.

  “Miss Dora, I know this is your home, but there is something wrong here. When I clean something, it becomes dirty again. Master thinks I am not doing my duty, but there is something dark here. I swear it.”

  “Have you considered that it might be you?” Lucian asked, staring at Mortimus with a disgusted expression.

  Carissa punched Lucian in the arm. “You leave Morty alone. He’s wonderful.”

  Morty’s eyes widened in surprise. “Miss Carissa! It is so good to see you again. Master will be so happy that you have returned, as am I.”

  “Hello Morty, it’s great to see you again too. Don’t worry about Terrence. I’ll speak to him about the cleaning,” Carissa said as she gave the large arachnid a hug.

  After she released him, Morty’s eyes settled on Peggy. He shook his head, staring at the unicorn with an expression of horror.

  “Um, Morty,” Dora said as she had an idea. “Why don’t you clean Peggy for us? I’m sure she’ll stay clean, unlike the church.”

  She wanted to see what state the church was in. The mention of darkness in it by Morty had confirmed her fears that there was something else happening here. Whatever it was, she didn’t want it spreading to the unicorn.

  “It would be a pleasure, Miss Dora. It would be a necessity,” Mortimus said as he took the reins of the unicorn.

  Lucian refused to let go of the reins. “I don’t want a spider crawling all over my unicorn!”

  “Sir, if you prefer, I could crawl all over your face,” Mortimus said.

  “Agh!” Lucian released the reins, and the spider gave him a short bow before he ambled off behind the church, leading Peggy behind him.

  “You really think my unicorn needs a clean more than this decrepit church?” Lucian asked after he composed himself.

  “No, but I think we need to find out what’s happening inside the church without the evidence being cleaned away,” Dora said.

  She stared at the open doors of the church entrance. They were warped out of shape and covered in mould. A feeling of doom settled over her as she made her way down the gravel path towards the entrance.

  Her instincts were on high alert. Something was very wrong here.

  She glanced down as she climbed the steps up to the doors and noticed a red glow on her hands.

  No, no, not now! This is the last place I want to look like a demon.

  Her skin was tingling with goosebumps, and her body tensed in fear. The demon part of her had gone on the defensive. It sensed danger, and it was coming out.

  She heard loud footsteps echo down the hall of the church. The people around her faded away while she watched her father’s dark robes swish around his legs as he came out of the shadows and walked towards her.

  Memories of him burning her in Hell came flooding back, and fear consumed her.

  She froze.

  Demon!

  The word echoed through her mind. The pain and suffering she had forgotten was a fresh wound, and the world swirled around her.

  She stared down at her glowing red hands, feeling demonic power bursting to come out. She fought against it with all her will.

  She glanced at her father’s face in horror as his mouth formed words.

  “D—” Everything went dark, and she felt herself falling.

  Not again, please not again.

  “—ora.” She heard as she hit the hard stone of the church floor, and everything went black.

  Dora groaned at the bright lights behind her eyes that were forcing consciousness upon her by waking her up. She felt exhausted and just wanted to sleep more. Every part of her body ached, and the brightness wouldn’t go away, no matter how tightly she squeezed her eyes shut.

  “She’s waking up.” A voice she recognised filtered through her thoughts. She knew the clipped tone of the voice. She tried to recall it, but her mind was a fuzzy white mess.

  She unwillingly forced her eyes to open and waited for the face above her to come into focus. It took a moment for her to recognise the face above her.

  “Dad?”

  “Dora!” She felt her father’s arms wrap around her in a tight hug. “You’re okay. Thank God, you’re okay.”

  She frowned in confusion, but hugged him back. She barely remembered the last time her father had hugged her like this.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, wondering if this even was her father.

  “I’ve seen the light,” he said while hugging her so tightly, she felt as if he might crush her.

  She peered over his shoulder to discover her old bedroom.

  Standing in the room were Kieron, Pooey and Lucian. Kieron had his wings out, and he was peering at his feet. He glanced up at her with a sheepish grin on his face.

  Her father finally released her and stood back from her bed.

  She pushed herself up to sitting position and stared around her old room. There was something missing.

  “Where’s Mom?”

  “Ah, she’s on holiday.” Her father looked away, refusing to meet her eyes.

  “On holiday alone?” She frowned and narrowed her eyes at Theodore. He was lying to her. “Cut the crap. Where is she?”

  “We’ll talk about it later,” he said.

  “We’ll talk about it now.”

  “Your mother and I were having some problems ...” He began before trailing off.

  “Did she leave you?” She tried to process the information.

  What the hell happened while I was away?

  “We’re on a break.” Her father sighed. “Don’t worry about it for now.”

  “A break is code for shagging a Greek god,” Lucian added with a helpful smile.

  Theodore shot Lucian a dirty look while Kieron slapped him on the back of his head.

  “What? That’s what I heard downstairs.” Lucian rubbed the back of his head, pulling an innocent expression.

  “She’s in Greece?” Dora frowned. “With a God?”

  “No, she’s in Greece with a sleazy restaurant owner, but she’ll come back.” Theodore nodded.

  “You okay?” she asked her father. He didn’t look okay. His stubble was out of control, and he slouched and hung his head. He seemed nothing like the man she had known growing up.

  He smiled at her and nodded. “Everything will be okay now that you’re back.”

  She smiled.

  He’s definitely not okay.

  “I must go help Terrance with dinner, but I’ll be back later to check on you,” he said before kissing her on the forehead and leaving the room.

  “Something isn’t right here,” she said after he’d closed the door behind him.

  She glanced around her room and frowned. Cobwebs hung from the ceiling, there were moth holes in her curtains, dust seemed to cover every surface and new books had old yellowed pages.

  She jumped out of bed and scanned the room. Everything looked so old.

  “Seriously, were we gone for a hundred years?” she asked as she picked up her ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ plush doll. It was covered in mould and cobwebs.

  “This was brand new,” she said, shaking it at the other people in the room. Its head flopped off its rotted neck and rolled across the floor.

  They all watched the head roll in silence.

  After a moment, Pooey spoke up. “Is it supposed to do that?
”

  “No!” She ground her teeth. “There’s something wrong in this church.”

  “There’s something wrong in all of us,” Pooey said.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Kieron asked.

  “Well, look at us. Dora’s passing out in shock like a virgin at an orgy. You’re getting more angelic every day, and me?” Pooey waved his fluffy arms around. “I’m a frikkin giant! You know how hard it is to be stealthy with these humongous feet?” He raised his stout little leg and wiggled a bear paw at them. “Earth sucks! The only person with demon form is Dora, and she can’t use it when she’s unconscious.”

  Kieron nodded. “And it’s killing you.” He turned to her with a sigh. “We need to set everything right again.”

  “How?” she asked, wondering if their alterations were affecting the world.

  But that makes no sense. Only the church is messed up, not the world.

  “We need to call Hell,” Kieron said while peering at his feet.

  “Oh yeah, you got the head of an angry boar and the blood of a demon in your pocket?” Pooey asked.

  “What?” She glanced up, alarmed.

  “We don’t need to use old magic,” Kieron said. “I’ve got my parents on speed dial.”

  “Speed dial to Hell?” Lucian raised an eyebrow.

  Kieron shrugged and raised his arm.

  A purple light shone from his fingers as he turned in a circle, creating a glowing purple circle around them. The thick beam was filled with symbols that turned around inside it on their own.

  Dora stared in awe as the symbols spun around them faster and faster. She heard screams in the background as the walls of her room blurred with a purple hue.

  “What the hell is this?” Pooey turned around inside the circle.

  “I put it on speaker,” Kieron said.

  There was an urgent ringing in Dora’s ears, which stopped abruptly with a ping.

  “Greetings from Castle Lascher.” She heard Lord Lascher’s voice in her head. “Anika and I are not available right now. If your message is urgent, please press one.”

  Kieron frowned, and tapped three sigils in the circle of light around them.

  Lord Lascher’s recorded voice appeared in her head again. “We don’t really care if it’s urgent. Please call back when Hell freezes over.” There was a loud clunk before the purple circle evaporated, and her room came back into view with startling clarity.