Figments of Fear (A Dark Fantasy Horror): The Edge of Reflection 2

by Carver Pike

  “Sorry, Hun, but one of us has to stay on this side, and it ain’t gonna be me,” Ivy said.

  Lisa tried to break free of Ivy’s grasp, but Ivy was too strong. Lisa was pulled into the mirror as Ivy jumped onto the bathroom floor of the Dupont Inn.

  ***

  Ivy looked up at the mirror to ensure that her counterpart had fallen all the way through, and when she saw that the mirror had turned solid, she fell back onto the floor and sobbed.

  The knocking on the door caused her to jump. She slid away from it, unsure of what was on the other side. Then came a voice.

  “Lisa, you okay in there?”

  At first, Ivy thought it was Cutter and she was confused. Then she realized that the sarcastic edge wasn’t there and that it had to be Gabe calling out to her.

  The doorknob jiggled. Ivy realized that she had no idea how Gabe would feel about the switch. What if he was angry? What if he liked Lisa more than he liked her? Their last time together had been great, that night before he disappeared and Cutter showed up, but was she just a roll in the hay and that’s all?

  And why was she suddenly so concerned what a man thought? She reached out to the doorknob, but hesitated, afraid to open the door.

  “Lisa? Open up.”

  Ivy turned the lock on the doorknob and slid back to the floor. She watched him through the curtain of hair that had fallen over her face as he entered the room, looking handsome and just and everything else that Cutter wasn’t.

  Tears flowed from her eyes and ran down her face. It was like a huge weight had suddenly been lifted from her shoulders. She’d escaped Cutter.

  She looked up at him and saw a look of concern on his face. He was worried about her. Did he love Lisa?

  “Lisa?” he asked.

  Wait? Why was he calling her Lisa? Couldn’t he see the difference?

  “My God,” he said as he dropped to his knees and cupped her face with his hands. He gently touched one of her many bruises, one just below her right eye. “Lis, what happened?”

  As soon as the words left his mouth, and his hand wiped a tear away, his eyebrows furled, and it was clear that he was figuring it out.

  “Ivy?” he asked.

  She stared up at him, ashamed. She put a hand to her mouth and continued to cry.

  “I’m sorry, Gabe. I shouldn’t have done that to her.”

  Gabe grabbed her face with both hands and forced her to look him in the eyes.

  “What did you do?” he asked.

  She didn’t answer, only cried more. He shook his head and stood.

  “Oh no. Ivy, no.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “Ivy, do you know what he’ll do…”

  She kept her eyes glued on her lap, unwilling to look him in the eyes. She pointed at one of the bruises on her cheek.

  “I know what he does.”

  Gabe dropped to his knees and wrapped her up in his arms. She collapsed in his embrace.

  “I was so scared,” she said.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “How could I be so selfish? You’re okay now.”

  ***

  Lisa was thrown face first out of the liquefied mirror, smacked her forehead against the counter, and flipped onto the cold tile floor. Her body slapped the ground and pain shot up her leg when her foot struck the floor.

  She curled up and held her foot as she took in the new bathroom’s décor. It was much cleaner and tidier than the one she’d left. Realization suddenly hit her, sending her head spinning with mixed emotions.

  She was no longer in danger of monsters and lunatics, but she was no longer with Gabe either. A glance upward told her that the portal was closed. The mirror was solid.

  “I’m back?” she asked aloud.

  Violent banging on the door scared the life out of her, and brought her back to reality. She wasn’t clear of danger. Ivy had been with Cutter, which meant he was the one banging on the opposite side of the door.

  She slid across the floor so that her back was up against the cabinets below the sink. The door shook with each strike.

  “What’s with the noise in there?” Cutter yelled.

  The voice sounded like Gabe’s, only angrier. She had never seen Cutter, but she didn’t need to. She’d heard enough about him, and she was petrified.

  “Open the fuckin’ door! Now!” Cutter screamed.

  Lisa didn’t budge. There was no way she was going to open that door. If he were going to kill her, she definitely wouldn’t make it easy on him. She scanned the bathroom, searching for something that could be used as a weapon.

  She tried the cabinet doors behind her, but they were only for show and wouldn’t open. There was nothing to aid her other than the tiny bottles of toiletries the hotel offered.

  According to what she’d been told, Cutter wasn’t one to wait patiently for others to do as he asked. He’d killed people for less, and Lisa guessed that Ivy had outgrown her usefulness. He banged on the door again and Lisa moaned. There was a final bang and the door crashed open. The doorframe splintered.

  Cutter stood before her, his large hunting knife in his tight, angry grip. His top lip curled. There was a blank nothingness in his eyes. She knew her time was up, and he was going to cut her to shreds.

  “Look what we have here,” he said.

  There was a terrifying grin on his face.

  “A frightened little girl.”

  Lisa tried to scoot back, but the cabinets prevented her from going any further. She was trapped. Cutter squatted down to get a closer look at her and she knew that he’d figured out that Ivy hadn’t just cleaned up.

  “The little whore crossed over. I should’ve known,” he said while shaking his head.

  “You’re Cutter,” Lisa said.

  “Oh, you’ve heard of me, eh baby?” Cutter said.

  Lisa didn’t respond. Cutter continued to shake his head and speak under his breath.

  “I can’t believe the little bitch had the nerve to cross over. Well, what do I care? You’re here now.”

  “What are you gonna do with me?” Lisa asked.

  “Shut up,” Cutter warned her.

  He crossed the bathroom and knocked on the solid mirror with a closed fist.

  “Yep, looks like you’re stuck here with me, doll.”

  He grabbed Lisa by the hair with one hand, and covered her mouth with his other. She screamed as hard as she could, but got next to nothing out through his clenched hand. He dragged her out of the bathroom, picked her up, and threw her onto the bed.

  “You’re lucky. I’m exhausted after doin’ your twin all night. But tomorrow night is ours.”

  Lisa looked up at him and prayed that she’d be saved before Cutter had the chance to take advantage of her.

  Chapter 9 – The Excitement of the Hunt

  Belgrave and his men stood at the bar in the opera house. Most of the other patrons had either retired to extracurricular activities in the rooms upstairs or had taken to the streets to engage in other unlawful acts. A few still lingered, playing card games or negotiating lower prices with the leftover whores still walking the main floor, but for the most part, the opera house was empty.

  Belgrave slammed a fresh magazine into his gun, cocked it, and sucked on a cigar. He blew a cloud of bluish smoke into Ellio’s face.

  Riker shoved his gun in the air and cheered as the chandelier above them began to shake. The other lights above did the same.

  “Fuckin-A!” Riker yelled. “Somebody’s puttin’ it to her tonight, boys!”

  “Only Sumo Sammy can get the ceiling shaking like that,” Ellio replied.

  “He’s upstairs with Kitty Kate,” Belgrave informed them.

  “Yeah! Do it to her, Sumo!” Ellio yelled.

  “Will you shut the fuck up?” Belgrave ordered.

  Ellio did as he was told. The skinny bartender handed a shot glass full of light green liquor to Riker. He tilted his head back and threw the shot down his throat.

  Alleycat stood at th
e top of the landing watching the boys prepare for something major. She was usually kept in the loop and involved in all meetings with her beau, but this time she had no idea what was going on. That disturbed her.

  She sashayed down the stairs, catching the eye of every one of Belgrave’s flunkies. She enjoyed the way his men desired her. It reminded her that she was the one who was really in control.

  She could allow Belgrave to run things for as long as she liked, and then, when she grew truly tired of him, all it would take was one fuck, one night of unbridled sex with one of his guys and they’d turn against him. She could have him killed anytime she wanted.

  Even Riker looked at her as if she was a piece of cake waiting to be devoured.

  She made sure to swing her hips from side to side as she descended the stairs, and just as she’d thought, each man surrounding Belgrave gazed dreamily at her long legs and the seductive movement of her body. She was a master of the sexual arts, and every man alive was a potential pupil.

  The testosterone in the air was overwhelming. The boys were definitely getting ready for the hunt. Alleycat knew when she saw Ashlin, the girl who’d warned her and Gabe by banging on the door, that they were going after Cutter.

  Ashlin’s face was battered and blood was trickling from her nose as she made her way up the stairs towards Alleycat. Her long red hair was disheveled and her makeup had run down her face. The girl was limping and crying.

  “What happened to you? Did one of your guys do that to you?” Alleycat asked as the girl tried to step around her.

  Ashlin’s guilty expression said it all.

  “What did you do?” Alleycat hissed at her.

  “He knows,” Ashlin said.

  Alleycat’s face twisted in rage. She was tempted to throw this girl over the railing as she’d done to Rana, but each girl she lost meant less money and more hardships for her.

  “Get out of my face. I’ll deal with you later,” she told the girl as she stormed off towards the bar.

  The girl ran up the remaining stairs in tears.

  Alleycat was not afraid of Belgrave. She was afraid of no man and she could lie with the best of them. No stupid whore of hers would ruin her.

  As she approached the bar, Riker saw her and sniggered. Belgrave tensed up while the other men kept their mouths shut, but their eyes were glued to her body.

  “What’s going on here?” she asked.

  Belgrave stubbed out his cigar on the bar and blew the remainder of his smoke in her face. She fanned it away with her hand and glared at him.

  “I told ya when I killed my brother for ya that I’d kill any man who touched you, outside of the job, of course,” he said.

  “And who do you think it was that touched me?” she asked with her hands on her hips.

  “You know damn well who I’m talking about. She told me everything.”

  He turned towards his boys and called out over his shoulder.

  “Took a little bit of convincing, but she eventually squealed like a pig.”

  They all laughed. Some of them made squealing noises. Riker gestured for them to quiet down.

  “And you believe a whore, a whore who’s been conniving her way to the top since she got here? She wants to take you from me. That’s what she wants. She wants you to get rid of me so that she can be me.” She turned and walked away, but not before serving one final blow.

  “Besides, you can’t even trust your own men. Half of them have tried to fuck me. Isn’t that right, Ellio?”

  Belgrave’s lips began to shake as he clenched his teeth hard in anger. The muscles of his jaw flexed and his eyes opened wide.

  Without hesitation, he pulled a hunting knife out of a sheath on his thigh and swung it outward. Ellio didn’t have time to move as the blade slit his throat wide open. He stared at Belgrave with a look of confusion before he fell to the floor in a puddle of his own blood.

  Riker laughed and kicked at Ellio’s leg. Belgrave stood above the dead man with his chest heaving angrily. He glanced at the rest of his men as if daring them to say one word.

  “Ah, he was soft anyway,” Riker said as he kicked Ellio’s leg once more.

  Alleycat laughed to herself as she headed upstairs. Men were so predictable. She turned and looked at Belgrave. She waved him over to her.

  “Baby, come take out some of that aggression on me,” she said.

  Belgrave would have easily complied with Alleycat’s wishes if it hadn’t been for the voice resonating from outside. It sounded as if someone was speaking through a megaphone. It was the voice of Goody Bones and it echoed through the opera house air.

  “We’re here for Cutter! Branded property of Colossus! Five thousand royce reward!”

  “What the fuck is that?” Belgrave asked Riker, who shrugged his shoulders and looked around to the others for an answer.

  Alleycat stopped on the stairs. The sound of Cutter’s name echoing through the air worried her. What had he done now? What had he done to put a five thousand royce bounty on his head? Many men had wanted to kill him in the past, but this was the first time Colossus had anything to do with it.

  ***

  Belgrave threw the front door to the opera house open and marched down the steps that led to the street. Riker and the other members of his crew followed closely behind. There, on the street in front of the opera house, was a long line of ragged, busted up vehicles.

  It was a Goody Bones parade full of maniacal madmen armed to the tooth. They were on the hunt and were going to do whatever it took to track Cutter down.

  At the middle of the long line of vehicles, Goody Bones sat high up in the rear of a jeep. Beneath him was a makeshift throne, all gold with human teeth glued to it. Like a high voodoo priest, Goody Bones’ white skeletal face paint shone through the night. His top hat sat crooked on his head. He held an M-16 rifle in one hand and a megaphone in the other.

  “We’re looking for Cutter! Branded property of Colossus! Five thousand reward!” he repeated.

  Several of Goody Bones’ henchmen pointed guns out their vehicles and fired rapid shots into the air. The thunderous gunfire reverberated through the city streets, calling out to anyone who might be interested in the reward, and warning all others to stay far away.

  If the images were normal people, people on the other side who genuinely loved life and feared death, they would be smart enough to hunker down inside their homes. However, images weren’t normal and the sound of gunfire had become as common as death. For this reason images began to gather along the sides of the street, watching the Goody Bones caravan as if it were the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

  Goody Bones obviously enjoyed being in the limelight and even waved a few times at the nosy crowd. Belgrave knew that spectators didn’t bother him, but if anyone stepped in his way he would mow them down without remorse. The sight of the onlookers filled him with excitement.

  “Cutter!” he yelled. “We’re gonna get you, motherfucker!”

  The crowd around him cheered. Belgrave reached the bottom of the steps and walked out onto the street with his arms folded in front of his chest, looking like one pissed off mayor running a city of bad asses.

  He stepped out in front of the parade with his buddies right behind him and stood in front of Goody Bones’ jeep, causing the driver to slam on the brakes. Goody Bones flew forward and had to slap the back of the seat in front of him to stop himself from flipping over it. He recovered with an enraged look on his face.

  “Don’t stop! Run that motherfucker over!” Goody Bones ordered.

  Belgrave unfolded his arms, reached into his shoulder harness and pulled out a small automatic pistol. He pointed it at Goody Bones’ face. Riker raised his gun and the rest of Belgrave’s men followed suit.

  “You move this jeep an inch forward and I’ll bury you beneath it,” Belgrave warned the driver.

  Goody Bones sat back on his throne and laughed. He wasn’t at all fazed by Belgrave’s tough exterior.

  “Who is thi
s joker?” Goody Bones asked as he glanced over at the flunky sitting in the passenger seat in front of him.

  “Rico, kill him.”

  Rico had barely begun to raise his weapon when Riker shot him in the forehead. Rico’s head whipped backwards and bounced off the back of his seat, sending a spray of blood up into Goody Bones’ chest.