“You want candy!” Cecil bellowed angrily. He scooped the candy bowl up into his hands and tossed the entire contents of the bowl at the children. “Here! Here’s your candy, you fucking mooches! Get the hell out of here!”
The children screamed and ran out of the store. Once they were gone, Cecil shuffled sadly to the door. He flipped the store sign over to CLOSED, and then he turned off the lights. He helped himself to a six pack and drank it alone in the dark.
***
“Eat my pussy, Bubba!”
“I’m sorry, come again?” Bubba said, craning his head nearer to Lydia, one of the dancers at the Busty and Lusty strip club. It was loud in the joint and he had obviously misheard her.
Lydia, dressed in a sexy little black cat outfit, stood pluckily in front of him. “I said eat my pussy!” she repeated, bringing a plastic cake dish from behind her back. She pressed it into Bubba’s hands.
He smiled and tilted the lid up. A lopsided chocolate cake in the shape of a black cat sat there.
“Oh, wow, man,” Bubba said, grinning. “You made this?”
Lydia nodded. “It’s a Halloween cake. Now you can go home and eat my pussy!” she joked, laughing heartily.
Bubba blushed slightly and nodded. “Well, thanks, Lydia. That’s awful sweet.”
Lydia tugged at a strand of black hair that rested on her shoulder. “So are you working tonight?”
“No,” Bubba said, patting the breast pocket of his flannel, where an envelope was stashed. “Just came in for my check.”
“That’s a nice shirt,” Lydia said, pressing her hand against Bubba’s stomach.
“Oh, yeah,” Bubba said, admiring it himself. “My mama gave me this one.”
“How is she doing?” Lydia asked.
“She’s good; happy as a clam. She sent me a text this morning. She finally got her handicap plates.”
“Cool! Rock star parking!” Lydia said, impressed. “She’s so lucky.”
Bubba nodded.
Lydia reached up and took Bubba’s cap off. She smiled playfully and put it on her own head. She touched Bubba’s hair.
“You have such great hair, Bubba. What is it, dark blonde? It’s hard to tell with the lighting in here.”
“Sandy brown, actually,” Bubba said, gently taking his cap back and returning it to his head.
“You take care of your hair. A lot of guys don’t know how. But you use product. I can tell,” Lydia said. “I just don’t know why you cover such a great head of hair with that hat.”
Bubba shrugged and smiled. Lydia started playing with her own hair again and stared at Bubba expectantly. She cocked up her hip and rested her palm there. She waited for him to make some kind of move, he suspected.
It wasn’t that he didn’t like Lydia. She was a looker. A little pale for him, maybe, and with that pitch black hair; Bubba didn’t have a tremendous fondness for those goth types and her character definitely had that rich and dark flavoring. But still, he enjoyed the flirtation that existed between them. It was sweet, and it made him feel desirable. He didn’t want that to go away, but he had no intention of encouraging anything further from it. Hell, he couldn’t take Lydia home to meet mama.
He was particular about the women he associated with and bedded. Just because he worked at a jiggle joint didn’t mean he would screw anything that would grant him access. And besides, Lydia was a bouncer groupie. She had screwed every other strongarm at the door. He didn’t know why she had this fetish. Daddy issues, he figured.
Seeing that Bubba wasn’t being led to the water, Lydia decided to take the ball from his hands. “You want to have breakfast with me?”
“Well, Lydia, I’ve got something cooking tonight. But rain check me on that, okay?”
Lydia nodded and gave him a smile, but he could tell that she was disappointed and not used to being turned down. “Yeah, great. I mean, it’s no big deal. We all got to eat. Figured we could just do that together, you know?”
“Absolutely and I am down. Just not for tonight,” Bubba assured her.
“Well, I’m up soon. Enjoy the cake,” Lydia said, turning away and heading for the back.
“I’ll wash this and bring it back to you!” Bubba said, holding up the cake container.
Bubba looked around the club. It was packed and the girls wore outfits even more flamboyant than their regular sexy work garments. The Busty and Lusty always did it up big for Halloween. There was an all night Witches Brew drink special at the bar, and a larger than normal crowd of nicely dressed businessmen and good old boys in more casual, but tough, attire crowded the area.
Bubba walked over to the DJ booth and peeked inside, giving a nod to the shadow behind the microphone.
“How they hanging, Taylor?” he asked the shadow in the booth.
A young Hispanic male face wearing headphones peeked out into the light. “What up Bee Bee?” Taylor said, and they two did a twinkle finger gesture before slapping palms.
“Busy tonight, huh?” Bubba said, watching as a stripper picked up dollar bills from the stage floor as her music faded.
“Yeah, busy as hell. And, hey, we got some fresh blood in, Bee Bee. Have you seen the new girl? She just started today. Finest piece I’ve ever seen, bro,” Taylor said, tapping a button on his console.
“She that sweet?” Bubba asked.
“I’m bringing her out now. Check it,” Taylor said, stretching back into the booth and grabbing his microphone.
“That was Amber burning bright on stage for your pleasure, ladies and gentlemen,” Taylor was obligated to say, though there wasn’t but one female customer Bubba could see. “And we’re going to keep the fires raging as Red comes out now on stage. This is her hot debut, so let’s give it up for Red!”
Taylor hit the music. Burning down the House by the Talking Heads blared from the sound system. Bubba smiled. He waited for the silhouette behind the flimsy stage curtain to strut out into the glow of the colored foot lights. When the new girl appeared, Bubba dropped the cake that Lydia had given him.
“Shit on a shingle, man,” he muttered, and he wasn’t smiling anymore.
***
Cecil woke with a start, nearly falling off of the stool behind the register. It took him a moment to remember where he was and what was happening. It all came back to him, and a fresh bout of depression circled around inside.
There were eight empty beer bottles in front of his eyes and he had fallen asleep with tobacco under his lip. He noticed the sticky brown stain on the counter that had drooled out of his mouth. Looking around, he spotted a half used paper towel roll near the register. He tore off a few sheets, and cleaned his chin and then the counter.
Bubba stepped into the dark store. “Hello?” he called. “Cecil, you in here, man?”
“Yeah,” Cecil replied, spitting the flavorless chaw from his mouth and into a wastebasket near him.
Bubba found the light switch near the door and turned it on. He then flipped the store sign back over to OPEN. “What’s going on in here? Why were the lights shut off and the closed sign up?”
“Took a shit break,” Cecil said, rubbing the back of his neck. Slumping to sleep on the counter had given him a nasty crick.
“You left the door open,” Bubba noted. “Anyone could have come in and stole from you.”
“Well, everything looks pretty much the same as before,” Cecil said, clearing off the bottles.
“What are you doing drinking on the job?” Bubba said, counting the empties gathered before him. “Man, your Daddy is gonna have your hide if he finds out.”
“Let me let you in on something, Bubba,” Cecil said, with a cheerless little grin. “My Daddy thinks I am a waste of space. He told me what a piece of shit I am tonight. Far as I’m concerned, I got no daddy.”
“Cecil, come on, man,” Bubba said, resting a pudgy hand and Cecil’s shoulder. “There ain’t nothing more important than family. That’s all some of us got.”
Cecil moved Bubba’s hand aw
ay. “Your family ain’t nothing but Jesus freaks and drama queens, brother. But at least they take you for what you are. Shit, I thought my dyke cousin Sandra was the black sheep of the McGee clan. Bet my Daddy would promote her to run operations before me.”
“No offense, Cecil. I’ve met Sandra. The gal looks like a little workhorse,” Bubba said, drawing ire from Cecil’s eyes. “Well, maybe that ain’t a fair comparison,” Bubba threw on top of it.
Cecil looked at the store clock. It was ten p.m. “Where the hell you been? I thought you were getting your check and coming back to keep me company.”
“Yeah, that was the plan,” Bubba said, still trying to settle on the best way to bring up his words. “I had a little hiccup. Ran into someone we know.”
“Yeah, and who would that be?” Cecil said, tearing open a fresh bag of chew and reloading his lip.
“You gotta promise me something first, man,” Bubba said. “Give me your word you ain’t gonna freak.”
“I ain’t promising you shit,” Cecil said, distrustfully. “What’s going on here, Bubba?”
“Best probably if I just show you,” Bubba said, going back to the store entrance.
He pressed the door open and stuck his face out into the night. “It’s okay. Just come on in here.”
A woman walked into the store. She wore brand new jeans that had a firm grip of her ass and a tourist t-shirt with the phrase DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS emblazoned on it and stretched wide by her large chest. She had lush red hair and bright green eyes. Sun freckles were lightly dabbed on her cheeks. It was Hattie Mae Reynolds. She smiled at Cecil apprehensively.
“Hello, Cecil.”
To be continued, y’all…
Author Bio
Terry M. West is an American horror author. His best known works: What Price Gory, Car Nex, Dreg and his Night Things series. He is also the managing editor of the Halloween/horror website, Halloween Forevermore. He was a finalist for 2 International Horror Guild Awards and he was featured on the TV Guide Sci-Fi hot list for his YA graphic novel series, Confessions of a Teenage Vampire. Terry was born in Texas, lived in New York for two decades and he currently hangs his hat in California. www.terrymwest.com
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All of the Flesh Served Available May 5th! Pre-order here!
“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.”
― Voltaire
Any record of the 45th that does not recognize him as a prophet is propaganda and a lie. False history. The truth is with the 45th. His word is absolute for it is God's word…
Hundreds of years after the great cataclysm, the Ministry of the 45th survive in a network of scientific bunkers. The last bastion of the old holy order, the 45th are bent on rebuilding the scorched earth and eliminating God's enemies. The Ministry wages a war against the mutant topsiders that occupy the dead states of the Soviet Union of America. Defending the 45th are the Red Guard, genetically engineered soldiers who are programmed to obey through their lifebrand. Dr. Morgan is a serviceman for Unit 468 of the Red Guard. His lifebrand being medicine, Dr. Morgan is the longest surviving field medic to serve. But Dr. Morgan is a deeply conflicted man with violent fantasies that contradict his pledge to preserve life. After escaping an abduction by the topsiders, Dr. Morgan's faith is cracked. During a furlough in the high Chancellor's bunker, Dr. Morgan is hailed a hero and taken off the front lines. But he soon realizes that someone has altered his lifebrand and lifted the veil that concealed the greatest deception ever perpetrated. Dr. Morgan has just become the most dangerous man in the wastelands. And when he discovers who the real enemy is, the revelation unleashes a fury strong enough to destroy what is left of the earth.
Join the All of the Flesh Served Thunderclap!
Night Things: The Monster Collection
"As someone who grew up on Universal's monsters, I was blown away by Terry West's modern interpretation of not only Dracula and Frankenstein, but the Mummy, zombies, werewolves and more! Every page crackles with sarcastic wit, horror and action." -Hunter Shea, The Jersey Devil
"Think 'True Blood' in an urban setting, add a dash of 'The Sopranos' and blend in a big-budget action blockbuster finale, and you have something approximating Night Things."-Tracie McBride, Ghosts Can Bleed
"A wild ride through some wickedly dark places."-Bram Stoker Award® winner Lucy Taylor
Imagine a world just like yours with one startling difference: every creature of legend has stepped forward from the shadow and they now exist shoulder to shoulder with humankind! New York City has become a macabre melting pot. Vampires, werewolves, zombies and ghouls are now the new immigrants and they are chasing the American dream. The Night Things have become part of the system. But many humans feel the creatures are dangerous ticking time bombs.
Night Things: The Monster Collection presents the first three Night Things/Magic Now books in one volume:
Dracula versus Frankenstein
Undead and Kicking:
Monsters and the Magic Now
Experience Terry M. West's entertaining blend of classic horror and dark fantasy and see your favorite monsters in a remarkable new light.
Buy it now!
HONGER
Coming soon from Morbidbooks!
Hunger knows no friend but its feeder…
Tarrytown, NY
Winter 1679
Willem Tenner is a God-fearing Dutch wheat farmer. After he and his family take in a half-dead old man that has come to their doorstep, a violent and gory nightmare that will last for an eternity begins. Basilius De Vries is an undying creature. He consumes Willem's family and curses the wheat farmer with the bite that never heals. De onheilige honger. The eternal hunger.
Piermont, NY
Winter 1997
Willem Tenner works at a video store and has few friends. He has lived many lives since 1679. He doesn't know what he is. He doesn't even know the name for it. When the hunger comes, he picks victims who have already given their lives away: Junkies, hookers, criminals. He will soon have to abandon this life and start again before people notice that he doesn't age. Willem had thought himself the only monster on this endless, ravenous trek through time. But he was wrong.
An enemy has come for him. And the monster plans on tearing Willem's life, body, and soul apart.
WARNING: This story contains scenes of graphic gore and violence.
Don’t The Monsters All get Scarier At Closing Time
A $0.99 Horror Short
Could you love something so hideous and offensive that it made you ill to look at it?
If you travel to a little dive called Violet's Tavern in Pasadena, you are apt to hear that question from Violet herself.
But whatever you do, don't give her an answer. And don't tell her your sins. Especially after closing time.
Buy it here!
Baker: Demons and other Night Things continues the Night Things saga in this prelude to the Magic Now series.
Baker Johnson is a psychical researcher, demonologist and exorcist living in 1930s New York City. Brilliant but deeply flawed, Baker has an otherworldly perception that allows him to read people with but a glance. In "A Weird Tale" (the story begun at the end of Night Things: Undead and Kicking), Baker is summoned to Providence by dying author of the macabre, H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft makes a confession that threatens Baker's life and sanity. In "A Fiend's Errand", Baker is approached by a dangerous mobster known as Johnny Stücke. Baker's black room, a place where haunted items are cataloged and kept, holds an ancient item that Stücke is determined to possess. Baker is introduced to the secret society known as the Night Things. And he may be the only thing standing between the world of man and the most dangerous threat it has ever known.
Also in
cluded are the previous Baker Johnson tales, "The Giving of Things Cold and Cursed", "Servant of the Red Quill" (with an introduction by Paula Cappa, author of The Dazzling Darkness), and "The Dark Alp".
Critically-acclaimed horror author Terry M. West continues his Magic Now series with this collection that introduces Baker Johnson to the Magic Now universe.
Also included: an exclusive preview of the next Night Things book, NOWHERE TO HYDE.
What Price Gory? Page 16