The Quarter Moon (Afterlife saga)

by Stephanie Hudson

  “Ah, here you are you little bastard” I heard Jared say as he pulled on something I couldn’t see. He used his whole body weight as he dropped to the floor pulling what looked like wire set into the ceiling above. The force of his fall caused a chain reaction as part of the tunnel started to crumble in a small line as the wire was pulled taut. He then wrapped the excess wire around in his fist a few times before using those big muscles to yank it one last time.

  I turned to see a large chunk of the rock come away revealing an older looking wall behind it. It was as if the other stuff had just been plastered on to cover what was beneath. Jared let the wire go and started pulling bigger chunks off until there was about a metre square exposed.

  In the centre of the wall was another one of those skulls I had seen earlier, the one that looked to have been made by fingers gouged into wet clay. This one was slightly more realistic looking and was rougher, whereas the other one had been smooth, like chalk.

  This one was a dark grey and speckled with black droplets that made me wonder what made those marks. There were also four claw marks that went down the length of the face like an animal had gone at it. I couldn’t help but look at the only animal in the room and raised my eyebrow in question. He looked sideways at me and just shrugged his shoulders, not confirming my silent assumption…though not denying it either.

  “You ready for this, pet?”

  “Not really.” I said truthfully.

  “Good answer.” He replied and then went ahead and opened the doorway or more like…

  A Gateway to Hell.

  Chapter 41

  The Silver Lining in Cells

  It turned out that just opening a door to Hell wasn’t as easy as just turning a handle or knocking three times. But really…living the life I did, could I just expect something easy for once? Well, it would be a nice change that’s for sure, but when Jared raised a hand to his mouth, I knew that a simple secret knock was just a pipedream.

  “Oww.” I hissed as I saw his fangs grow before he slashed the top of all his fingertips across one of them. Blood oozed from the torn skin and he fisted his hand a few times to get more blood pumping to the surface. Without a sound of pain or even discomfort from having nearly taken off the top of his fingers, he slapped his hand over the skull that was a perfect fit in his large palm. He ran his bloody fingertips down the four claw marks and then placed two of his fingers in the eye holes.

  “פתוח,אני מלך הדם הזה” (means ‘Open, I am this blood King’ in Hebrew) He spoke the foreign words perfectly and I was just about to ask what they meant when he spoke another word,

  “Neshamah.” This time I couldn’t help but ask,

  “What does that mean?” Just as I sounded the question, I flinched as the skull disappeared into the stone and the sound of rock grinding against rock filled the passageway. I took a step back when Jared’s arm straightened out to his side across my torso and moved me behind him. I looked around his bulky size to see bigger pieces of wall crumbling away like wet sand. It was like when the sea destroys the sandcastle and drags it back to become part of the shore. There was no longer any hard stone but now, in its place, was an opening the size of a small man.

  “It can mean many things, but Neshamah in Hebrew means mainly the call of the soul… ‘The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul’… That’s a bit of Genesis 2:7 for you.” He said shocking me enough to gape at him. He bent his frame to fit through the space and when I didn’t automatically follow he stuck his head back round the space and said,

  “You coming or what?” I shook out the part where I had just heard a Hell’s beast giving me a religious sermon and cleared my throat to say,

  “Uh…yeah, I’m right with ya.”

  “So Hebrew?” I asked as we stepped into yet another tunnel.

  “Hebrew has 22 letters in its alphabet and, considering Dashwood’s entrance was 22 steps away from my own entrance, I decided it was apt when choosing the right containment words, sealing it back up is much more simple though.”

  “Ok, so you will need to explain a few things here, ‘cause my head is going a million miles.” He looked at me over his shoulder and said,

  “Shocking”, in a sarcastic tone.

  “Oh come on, give me a break, I find all this fascinating.”

  “You need a hobby, pet.”

  “Yeah, so I have been told but you know, in between solving cryptic messages, trying not to be taken hostage, visiting freaky ass fight clubs, finding deadhouses, and being chased around in some bloody caves all night, in the hopes of getting into Hell to save my boyfriend, has kind of not given me much time for water sports, so if you don’t mind just answering some of my question that would be swell.” I added after counting all these points of on my fingers and not pausing to take a breath.

  “Tell me all that was in a life time?”

  “Uh…Try a few weeks, now is it so much to ask to appease my curiosity?”

  “Jesus, you really are dangerous to be around.” I gave him my ‘ha, ha, so funny’ fake smile, when he stopped to face me.

  “Fine, here’s how the story goes, Dashwood and his jumped up rich boy clan was made up of…

  “The 12 apostles, I know.”

  “You know?” He said clearly shocked.

  “Yeah, I mean…well, there’s dummies and a plaque and everything.”

  “Dummies?” Now he looked very confused.

  “Near the Inner Temple is the plaque explaining about Dashwood’s apostles and dummies dressed up having a jolly old time in the Temple…and I gather from your face this is new to you?”

  “Uh yeah, I don’t exactly come back here for a vacation spot or just for shits and giggles…I hate this fucking place for a reason.” I exhaled a large sigh, ‘cause let’s face it, what do you say to that?!

  “Shit, they really have all that stuff as public knowledge?” I nodded but then added,

  “They kind of put a softer spin on the ‘Devil worshiping club’ but yeah, it’s all there, although I very much doubt all they did in the Temple was get dressed up, rip roaring drunk and discover what was under a girl’s skirt.”

  “Yeah, no shit.” We kept on walking when I decided to remind him that he hadn’t actually finished what he was going to say, so naturally I helped him out by say,

  “Sooo…Dashwood’s jumped up rich boy clan…?”

  “The entrance we came through was different back in Dashwood’s time. It was masked by a fake stone wall where, if you knew where to look, an open doorway could easily be found behind. When I first came back to this world I found my own exit from a cell they kept me in, only now it seems powers above my own have taken back control of it.” He looked less than happy about that and even in the lantern’s low light, I could still see his eyebrows knitted together in an angry scowl.

  “Why is that do you think?”

  “I don’t know, but I can guarantee you one thing, pet…I won’t stop until I find out.” Given the determination in his voice I had little doubt in that promise.

  “So, you didn’t know what the poem meant?” He gave me a look that made me feel like I was acting like a dog with a bone. I couldn’t say I blamed him.

  “That would be a firm no, now end of conversation.”

  “But…” He whipped his head round and all he had to do was give me that warning look, shake his head and silently mouth the word ‘NO’ at me. I finally got the hint.

  We walked in silence around all the twisted tunnels that, if believable, were a lot creepier than the original caves. This I put down to two things. The first being not only the lack of life but the lack of any evidence there ever was any. At least in the other caves there was always something to remind you that you lived in the modern world. Wires, light fittings, maps, plaques and even exit signs could be seen, but in here…there was nothing but cold hard stone.

  Although I guess that wasn’t stric
tly true, which brought on my second point. There definitely wasn’t any lack of pain and suffering down here. That same cold hard stone was scarred with evidence that whatever went on down here couldn’t be further from a tourist attraction. Claw marks ran metres in length at different angles and old dark spots of something I didn’t want to think about were sprayed in varies areas.

  “You?” I asked in a small voice that didn’t have one ounce of humour. He saw me looking at the marks and just before I reached out to trace one of the deeper claw marks, he snatched my hand, pulling it away.

  “Let’s just say you wouldn’t want to see me angry.” This was his only explanation as he pulled me further down into the unknown.

  After we had turned this way and that, right and left into so many junctions, I knew that without a map to this place it would have been near impossible to find your way out. I didn’t know how Jared knew it so well, and could only assume he had spent way too much time down here to know it from memory the way he did. This thought brought on a fresh wave of anger at what he had been through.

  Instead of voicing my opinions, I followed silently as Jared navigated us around what looked like a stone version of a garden maze and the movie ‘Labyrinth’ came to mind.

  “I swear if David Bowie pops out now singing about babes with power, I am so outta here.” I said needing to break the tension of being in such a horrible place. Jared stopped dead but didn’t turn round to face me. I was about to ask but he just shook his head and grunted his amusement rather than laughed.

  “You are nuts, anyone ever tell you that?” I let a cheeky smile form.

  “I’m nuts?”

  “That’s what I’m saying.” this time I grunted.

  “Yeah well, I’m not the one with a freak show circus for a fight club.” This time he did laugh.

  “What can I say, the revenue in breaking Demon flesh is good” I rolled my eyes and muttered,

  “And you think I’m nuts.”

  We went round yet another corner just before the banter could continue, because soon I was faced with something that looked like it belonged in the Tower of London! A large open dome that looked to be the same size as the banqueting hall was the space we walked into now but with a very distinct difference. Whereas the banqueting hall had little alcoves, which according to the plaques, had been where lustful men could enjoy a masked woman of their choosing, this had something more horrific!

  The sight of all those tall, iron bars turned this large cave into a makeshift prison, using the bare rock as an impenetrable means of escape. On the walls that there weren’t doors of rusted iron, there were things that were considered far worse than a cell. Hanging manacles dangled from chains, some with strained links no doubt from years of abusive use. There were also metal contraptions that hung on hooks as if waiting to be taken down once again for their only means in torture. These looked like they were meant to hold a person in a contorted ball or others in the reverse. Large iron holes for a head bent forward and then in the opposite direction, smaller holes at the end of iron branches that came out to hold the limbs behind their back.

  It looked sick!

  I made sure when walking to keep in the middle and after being silent for so long I think Jared must have wondered what was wrong with me. He looked behind him and with one look at my face, his eyes softened with what I gathered was sympathy.

  “Come here, little pet.” He held his hand out for me to take and I practically ran to him, needing his comfort right now. As soon as his fingers could curl around mine he yanked me to him, making me fall into his embrace.

  “I didn’t think… I’m sorry, pet.” Confused at his words I pulled back as much as he would allow and looked up at him with wide eyes.

  “About what?”

  “This…” He spread his arms out to motion to the room before continuing,

  “…all of it, everything you see is nothing to me. It never was…not where I come from, but looking in your eyes, the portal and viewing glass into your very soul and seeing there just how pure that soul really is…well, that is not a thing that even one such as I would want to see tarnished by the pain and suffering that went on in this room or what truly lies waiting for you.” He turned his head to one of the largest cell doors that was partially hidden.

  “Jared, look at me.” When he did I couldn’t help but raise my hand to his cheek, feeling the heat there even through the material of my glove.

  “I passed Go and continued playing the game a long time ago when I could have just called it quits…I didn’t. I stayed and even through all the horrors of your world, I still knew I had made the right choice. I don’t know what exactly happened to Jared Weller to turn him from the world, but I think I get the impression you know what it’s like to deal with loss and for loss to hold the power it does, you also have to have known love.” At this he closed his eyes as if my words were actually causing his heart to hurt and he was working through the pain. I swallowed down my sadness for his discomfort and whispered words of love in this dreadful place,

  “That’s why I think you also know that what I do now is something I must and given the chance…something you yourself would do too, to stay in the game, because I promise you this Jared, the only thing that will get me off that board is going to be nothing short of death!” I vowed this with so much passion I felt a few tears fall, sealing that promise with raw emotion. He opened his eyes, flashed me his own silver emotion and nodded his head once.

  “Then all I can do is keep you safe in the game, the best I can.” I smiled up at him and said,

  “That would be appreciated.”

  “Then in that case, let me show you the evidence of something happy that did happen in this shithole.” At this I crinkled my nose, thinking that that surely would be impossible and I told him as much,

  “Happy? What could possibly have been happy down here?”

  “My escape.” He said giving me an evil smirk and I could have sworn I saw his pupils elongate, turning briefly into thin slits from that of an animal. Then he winked at me, grabbed my hand and led me to the last cell hidden in the dark.

  The rusted door to this one looked to be double the size of the others. It had a massive contraption that looked to be the lock and the closer I got, the thicker the bars looked. I couldn’t help but look at Jared and then stupidly wonder what he looked like in beast form. However the sound of Jared effortlessly kicking the door open and busting the lock like it had been made of tinfoil, made me shudder those thoughts away. I quickly decided I had no great urge to witness Jared as a beast, considering the man himself was scary enough!

  He held the dented door back and said gallantly,

  “After you, pet” I bit my lip and walked into Jared Cerberus’ first home in this human plane. Although, judging by the massive hole in the wall that a raging bull could fit through, I would say it wasn’t his home for long!

  “Ah yes, it didn’t take me long to realise I preferred something a little more upmarket…more space, maybe somewhere with a view, oh and let’s not forget more than a dirt hole to shit in.” He said laughing at the disgusted face I pulled. I knew why he joked about this and it was for my benefit only. He was putting a cloak of humour over a disturbing part of history so that I wouldn’t see the true horror of what lay beneath.

  I looked from the crumbling mess that looked as if an engine powered piece of construction machinery had just ploughed through…or maybe a small tank would be a better description for the destruction left. Whichever fit better was irrelevant as I started to really take in the rest of the space. It was dark, damp and cold stone that looked like any other cave you could imagine…that was apart from one major difference.

  “What is this?” I asked referring to all the symbols that decorated every available space on both the stone and the tiny marks that looked scorched into the thick bars of the door.

  “Ah, well after Dashwood had these cells built and started to move onto the more serious side of Devil wo
rship, he began by looking to history for some answers. Most of which were utter horse shit, just like these useless symbols that he thought could keep a demon contained.” I silently took in each different symbol before asking,

  “How?”

  “He heard of a story back in the 1760’s that in the French village of Gevaudan the people there were trying to deal with villagers being savagely attacked by some kind of animal. It was actually where fucking Werewolves came about, all thanks to some big ass rabid dog that went on a rampage attacking folk.” He said sounding half pissed and half amused.

  “So it wasn’t anything like that?”

  “Oh honey, there was no-one like me before this shit happened.” He yet again gave me another wink as he boasted and I couldn’t help but smile even through my rolling eyes.

  “But the poor mutt was said to be hurt by silver and so that stupid ass myth was born, hence those symbols that are Alchemical symbols for the metal” He nodded to where my hand was touching one that looked like two triangles attached. There were about 12 in total and ranged from moon shapes to tridents, duel cups and smaller circles attached to a larger one. I even snorted a laugh at the one that looked like a horned stick figure stood on top of a hill.

  “So, they didn’t work?” I looked back to the wall and saw the painted symbols on some of the fallen lumps of stone, so knew my answer before he said it.

  “You wouldn’t be asking me that if you saw what it means to be a Cerberus.”

  “I can imagine you’re right about that.”

  “Of course, they weren’t expecting me to show up.” He said cracking his knuckles in a manly show of dominance he had every right to.

  “So what were they expecting?”

  “Truthfully?” I nodded at him and he shrugged his shoulders before saying,

  “Fuck knows…a hand shake with the Devil, a pat on the back by one of his Presidents…who really knows but the dead, but one thing I will say, given the cells, the useless symbols and abducting poor bastards like me, my guess is he simply wanted to sacrifice a human in order to give a demon a host he could use…maybe even control…whatever it was though died with my rebirth, as did the club.”