None More Black

by Williams, Brett

  “He's always watching. It's creepy. And those eyeless paintings downstairs...” Katie shivered as she hugged her topless bosom.

  “I have a meeting with Alex soon...” Brant thought aloud. “We really don't have time to fool around.”

  “You can fuck me now, Daddy. Shadow man is gone.”

  “No. Not now.”

  “I'll suck it.”

  “No. It's okay.”

  “I'll suck it during your meeting.” Katie giggled.

  Tempting, but no. Still too much to do. Too much going on to actually enjoy the act. Brant, falling behind in his activities, couldn't truly relax until he caught up again. His cell phone chirped and vibrated in his pants. Probably Alex, Brant reasoned. If Alex postponed the meeting, Brant would fuck Katie. Otherwise, she'd need to wait.

  The text message, though, came from Evelyn. There had been delays with the divorce proceedings, something Brant hadn't cared to inquire the details of. And now this shit. A snarky message from Evelyn about wanting ownership of the BMW or its blue book value.

  “Fuck you,” he said aloud.

  “Fuck me, Daddy?”

  “No. Evelyn.” Ignoring the message, he slipped the phone back into a pocket and started out of the bedroom.

  “You're not going to fuck me?”

  “What?” Brant turned to find a pouting daughter. “We'll go to dinner tonight, anywhere you like. Maybe see a movie. We'll get a motel room, somewhere Shadow Man won't watch us. Okay?”

  Katie smiled. “Okay, Daddy. Daddy?”

  “Yes, sweetie?”

  “Your barn door is open.”

  Brant zipped his fly. Before leaving he returned the favor with: “I can still see your titties.”

  Selecting the Nebraska site, Brant thought, might be the toughest challenge of all. Building what they needed from the ground up would take time. Too much time, resources, and draw too much attention. However, finding the right building basically in the middle of small town America was beginning to seem nearly impossible. Since it would replace the Kansas site, with its prison cells, production stages, and torture chambers, it required more forethought than the other facilities. Simply turning an old warehouse or department store into their site wouldn't necessarily work.

  Brant had assigned Tara and her team to work with Alex on finding possible candidates for the site, and had outlined preliminary requirements, based on his discussion with Alex earlier, for the site. He sent it in an email, trusting his team rose to the task.

  There were also various messages he needed to respond to: an update from Joey regarding the server rack fiasco, Brainy Witch with a thought regarding Portal von dem Jenseits Vergnügen, a link from Katie about their 7:00 PM dinner reservations at Pierre's tonight.

  Brant texted Katie to meet him in the library with a cup of coffee. He wasn't in the library, though he'd longed to be for most of the day. First things first. He'd needed to take care of business before turning his attention to his new love. The love of dark magic that only the books in the library could provide. He closed the clamshell of the notebook computer and left his office in the sun room. Katie met him minutes later, at his desk in the library, the massive German tome open before him.

  “Pierre's looks good. Right, Daddy?”

  “Yes. Very good choice, sweetie.”

  “I know you're busy,” she said. “I'm just a text message away. I miss you.”

  “I'm right here, babydoll. It's just a busy time right now, that's all.”

  “I love you, Daddy.”

  “Love you too, sweetie.”

  With a kiss, she left him to his own devices.

  Brant, deep into the German text which required deep concentration and frequent use of on-line translation tools, found his train of thought horribly derailed by the noisy arrival of Sassy, Fat, and Skinny Witch. He glared at them from his desk.

  “Sorry,” Sassy said. “This bimbo just said the funniest damn thing.”

  Fat Witch said, “Hey! Who are you calling a bimbo, bimbo?”

  “You,” Skinny agreed, “you bimbo.”

  “This is a library,” Brant reminded them.

  “We'll keep it down,” Sassy promised.

  They did lower their volume, however, Brant now found, as he tried to concentrate, their every little movement annoying. The movements caught in his peripheral vision. And when they whispered among each other, which they often did and couldn't be expected not to do, Brant found himself trying to make out their words. He didn't truly wish to eavesdrop but sometimes, at least to him, quiet, unintelligible voices, annoyed more than soft voices he could understand.

  Soon, he knew, Brainy would be here too. Brant couldn't recall a time when the four of them were here without Goth Witch, so he knew she'd arrive later.

  “Damn it,” Brant muttered. He marked the page in the book and headed out of the library with it under an arm, headed for his desk in the sun room. A ruckus met him in the great room. Jenna and Katie laughing and joking as they played video games on the large-screen TV with a couple of guys. Brant recognized one as an operator for the Austin site whose name escaped him at the moment. Brant said, “Keep the noise down to a low roar, please.”

  “Yes, Sir,” Katie said.

  “And lower the volume on the TV.”

  A little white noise might actually prove beneficial, Brant thought.

  The spell he was researching involved the entrapment of a being with the use of enchanted mirrors. Properly executed, it might alleviate or minimize their issues with Shadow Man. Incorrectly executed and it could open a vast gateway for more shadowy entities.

  “Hey,” Jenna tapped Brant on the shoulder, “I need my medicine.”

  “Later. You'll get your fix later.”

  “I really need it now.”

  “Go away. Can't you see I'm busy?”

  “Fucker,” Jenna muttered as she returned to the great room.

  The volume of the game, a new one with plenty of Pac-Man-esque blips and dings, seemed to annoyingly increase, as did the amusement of those playing. Brant attempted to blot out the noise by humming.

  And then his cell phone rang. Evelyn calling. He dismissed the call with a swipe of the screen and immediately received an abusive text message stating he was an asshole and should return her fucking calls.

  “Daddy?”

  “What?”

  “I just wanted to remind you of the dinner reservations.”

  Brant glanced at his watch and became further annoyed by the time crunch.

  Katie continued, “Want me to push back the reservation to eight?”

  “Yes. That's a good idea.”

  “Okay, I'll do it now.”

  “Tell everyone to keep it down in there, first. I can't hear myself think.”

  Katie left and the ruckus minimized for a brief while, only to return in an abrupt spike of accolades, including, based on the sound, a pair of loud cracks from high-fives.

  “Goddamn it!” Brant shot off his chair and stormed into the great room. “Turn off that fucking thing. This isn't a fucking video arcade.”

  “Sorry, brah,” one of the guys said. “I reached level ten.”

  “I don't care. Game over, brah.”

  “C'mon, man,” the guy told the other, “let's jet.”

  Katie, holding her phone, stood in shock.

  “Did you push back the reservations?” Brant asked.

  “Doing it now, Daddy.”

  “Never mind. I can't fucking think. Just keep the seven o'clock reservation. I'm going upstairs to change. We'll have drinks beforehand.”

  “Okay,” she said.

  “My medicine...” Jenna reminded him.

  “Fuck you. This place is a mess, beer bottles and soda bottles everywhere. I'll give you a fix before we leave, if I feel like it.”

  Jenna, cursing under her breath, began to gather up empty bottles and assorted trash like a potato chip bag in the room. Brant didn't stick around to supervise.

  He
needed a hot shower and a couple of hours away. Which only served to infuriate him more, because he hadn't finished the work he'd intended to do.

  Dinner went fine, Katie seemed to enjoy it, and the drinks Brant did little to calm his nerves. There was work to be done and although he'd accomplished much during the long day, he hadn't accomplished everything he'd wanted to accomplish. Which frustrated to no end. Perhaps if he woke a little earlier tomorrow, he could make up for it. Tomorrow's schedule seemed lighter.

  Am I forgetting something? Brant asked himself on the way home from a movie theater. Katie had asked to see a movie, a chick flick whose title and plot escaped him despite having sat through it. His mind had been too active, primarily thinking about how tonight's sex would hopeful provide the distraction he so desperately needed. He stopped himself from asking her to check tomorrow's calendar for him.

  “Daddy?”

  “Yes, Katie?”

  “Thank you for taking me to dinner. Pierre's is so fancy. And yummy. I love it. And the movie too.”

  “My pleasure, sweetie.”

  “Are we headed home?”

  “We are.”

  “But I thought...”

  “That we were going to a hotel? I decided against it.” Brant sensed Katie slump in the passenger seat. “I have a better idea?”

  “Ooh. What's the idea?”

  The thought had come to him during the movie. It seemed simple really, once away from the house and distractions. He explained, “You know how it thrills you so much to make Daddy happy by becoming completely and totally the object of my sexual desires, no matter what they might be?”

  “Of course, Daddy. It makes my little girl parts weep in anticipation.”

  “Well, you see, Daddy's boss is much sicker and more perverted than Daddy. He likes to watch you be Daddy's little girl slut, and so what we're going to do is, instead of being ashamed or frightened or disturbed by the presence of Shadow Man or any of the watching eyes, instead we're going to be sicker and perverted than ever before. We'll have an audience. Daddy wants an audience. Which also means...”

  “That I want an audience too.”

  “Of course you do, sweetie.”

  “Why are we turning in here?”

  “Because I want you to run in and get a can of whipped cream, a bunch of bananas, fresh strawberries, if they have any, and a bottle of Hershey's chocolate syrup.”

  “Daddy! Ice cream sundaes for dessert? You're the best!”

  “Yeah, sure. You can buy ice cream too, if you like.”

  27

  A warm spray of water pelted Brant's body. He finished rinsing away suds in the three-quarter bathroom that had been installed in the basement before backing away from the jets.

  “Hand me the soap and I'll lather your back,” he said.

  Brainy handed him the bar before turning and pulling away damp hair.

  “The spell didn't specify intercourse, you know.”

  “I know.” Brainy tossed a smile over a shoulder. “Are you complaining?”

  “Playing. I like to tease.”

  “And to please. The spell didn't exactly call for the tongue work you lavished on me either.”

  “It certainly increased the high though.”

  “Yep,” Brainy agreed.

  The spell, simply an act to help stoke the magical power filling the house, had been Brant's idea, a mere excuse for sexual union with Brainy once again. Working magic released a lot of endorphins.

  “If I didn't know better,” Brainy said as Brant took his time sliding soap over her curves, “I'd think you have a librarian fetish.”

  “Katie manages the books.”

  “You know what I mean, insisting I wear my glasses. And today, suggesting I not let down my hair.”

  “What can I say, it's a great look on you.”

  “It's hot outside. I had an urge.”

  “An urge.”

  “That's enough,” she said, implying the lathering of her back, and turned to rinse.

  “I planned to soap your ass.”

  “Thanks but I already did. And thanks for having this bathroom installed. You didn't have to do that either.”

  “Awfully convenient after a blood orgy, don't you think?”

  “Awfully convenient when you sleep in the sub-basement and there's a flight of stairs and thirty yards or more between you and … you get the picture.”

  “Indeed I do.”

  Brainy swatted at him playfully. “My eyes are up here.”

  “So is your Brain.”

  Brainy glanced down. “While your brain is down there.”

  “One of them. The fun one.”

  “Shriveled and cute. Hard to imagine it inflates as much as it does.”

  “You inflate it well, dear.”

  “Okay, then.”

  Brainy shut off the water and reached out of the shower for towels, of which she handed Brant one.

  After they stepped out of the shower, dried, and pulled on robes, Brainy asked, “You sure you don't mind my staying here?”

  “Who are we fooling? A young woman your age has no business living at home with her parents. If you lived in the dorm, it would cost a fortune and, with the noise, you'd live in the library. This way you have your own place and keep busy helping me in a library.”

  Brainy wiped condensation from the lenses of her glasses before slipping them on. “You just like the fringe benefits.”

  “And you don't?”

  Brainy, smirking, said, “I have a test to study for. Think I'll retire to my studio apartment for the evening.”

  As soon as Brant exited into the basement, with its symbols, melted candle wax, and bodily fluids spread across the floor, he was reminded of Shadow Man's observance of the ritual he had just performed with Brainy.

  Originally disturbed and annoyed with the thing, Brant found that he'd bought into the line of bullshit he'd fed Katie the other night. He did enjoy the exhilaration of being watched. He'd become an exhibitionist, and, if last night was any indication, Katie would become one, too. The fact didn't surprise him in the least. She performed for him and herself every time they fooled around.

  He wondered what she was up to now. Hell, he wondered where the entity had went to … and a chill ran down his spine...

  But he shook off the feeling.

  He was into some sick shit, he reflected.

  Fucking his own daughter in an incestuous relationship

  Loving her in a way he'd only loved his wife

  Cheating on her with a coven of witches

  Creating a computer network to disperse depravity and occult knowledge

  Interfacing that network with, what, information in hell?

  Working magic and depravity to appease Kasas, their supernatural sponsor

  “Well, hell,” Brant mused aloud. “It was this or go on welfare.”

  He'd chosen the right option. He loved power. Depravity, too, he'd come to realize. Was it so bad that he enjoyed what he did? Fuck, no.

  But he wanted more. From what he'd learned in the books provided by Suvos, a mere tip of an iceberg of knowledge actually, he could have more, much more. Immortality, once he mastered the dark arts. He knew so from hints here and there within various texts. And that's what he longed to do. He felt the flow of blood in his groin at the thought.

  “Shadow Man,” he called as he emerged at the top of the stairs, “follow me. You won't want to miss this shit.”

  He strode to the wet bar. In the great room music blasted from speakers and Ding! Zip! Zaps! sounded as Jenna or one of the two guys, Brant wasn't sure and didn't really care, navigated a video game avatar on its quest to higher leveldom.

  Brant grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniels from behind the bar and went to join the trio as he unscrewed the cap. “Who's winning?” he asked after taking a shot straight from the bottle.

  “He is,” a dude said.

  “Not by much,” Jenna added.

  “Are you guys gay?” Brant a
sked.

  “What, man?” A dude paused the game.

  “Are you guys gay? Or maybe you fucked her earlier, and are blowing off steam till you can get it up again.”

  “The fuck, dude?”

  “What's your damage?” the other dude wanted to know.

  “If you'd rather play video games than fuck, that's your prerogative,” Brant said as he tipped up the bottle again.

  “You're being an ass,” Jenna said.

  “Am I? I'm going upstairs. If you want to score a hit, follow me up. No freebies, of course.”

  “Fuckin' asshole,” dude #2 said.

  Brant started out of the room but stopped when one of the dude's asked:

  “Where you goin'?”

  “Be right back,” Jenna answered.

  Brant, grinning, piped up. “She's going to suck my cock for a hit of cocaine. Unless I decide to fuck her instead. She'll take it up the ass if I want, provided she gets what she wants.”

  “You're a fucking asshole,” Jenna said.

  “Asshole, it is,” Brant said. “Unless, of course, these two homosexuals would prefer to fuck you than save the pixel princess from Donkey Kong.”

  “We're not playin' Donky Kong, dude.”

  “And you're not playing pin the cock in the coke whore either. To each his own. Come on, Jenna.” Brant started up the stairs.

  “Hey, wait,” one of the dudes said.

  The Zips! and Zaps! paused again.

  Good. Because Brant didn't actually want to screw that skank. He merely wanted to see if he could draw the attention of Shadow Man with a ménage à trois.

  Katie, propped up in bed, watched a movie on television while navigating her smart phone. She paid little attention to Brant offering Jenna and the two guys hits of cocaine, of which only Jenna accepted but then the two guys escorted her into her bedroom. Brant went to one of the double sinks in the bathroom to brush his teeth and better comb his hair. He'd simply ran fingers through it downstairs.

  After using the last of the dental floss, a box caught his attention when he tossed the dispenser into a wastebasket. The box reminded him of the type a tube of toothpaste might be packaged in, except too narrow and the packaging, an off-white or cream color, did not convey a “clean teeth and fresh breath” marketing vibe. His intuitive mind couldn't offer a satisfactory suggestion, and though all this happened within a second of his sub-conscious mind, he bent over to remove the empty box for closer inspection.