Spriggan: Dark horror fantasy

by Julius Schenk

  ‘what the fuck is women’s weekly?’ she asked.

  ‘It’s like news of the world. I'll get Rogers work away account as well and find out if that Nick guy has been active.’

  ‘Thanks, baby, but don’t come, it’s $700 bucks in flights, I’ll be leaving myself soon, just a few more days and like you said I’m sure we’ll get signed off or we’ll tell the world’, she said.

  ‘Stay safe and don’t be afraid to listen to your instincts and act crazy, you’re usually right’ He said

  “Just to check, you can do these things?’ she said

  “Sure,” he said

  “and you’ve always been able to?’ she asked.

  “Yeah, but most people don’t piss me off this much,” he said.

  Chapter Sixteen

  After he had killed the two in the water room, he’d slipped away into the night and watched as they reacted. It was like if a defiler kicked an ants nest. The emotion was clear on their faces if he couldn’t have felt it coming off them. The only one who wasn’t scared was the girl, Bree.

  The rest ran around panicked and frightened; it was funny to watch. He stood as still as a tree in the dark and watched them. The hunter girl sat on the stairs for hours and then two loud metal machines came. A lot of people came out. The man was a warrior of some sort, he had a weapon on his side, but it was much smaller than a sword, he didn’t know what it was.

  They took his sacrifices, the wrapped them up and carried them out. He was so angry with himself; he should have known they would. Then the warrior took Roger as well. He understood who this man was; he was the law giver, Roger had done wrong, maybe he’d stolen from his neighbors or was in trouble for guests under his roof being killed.

  That was bad, if he was gone, the other might leave as well. They were all on his list now. Except for the hunter and Bree. Still, he’d taken a lot of people at once before and could do it again. They left in their machines with him.

  He realized he had truly awoken in a time that was not his own. He could understand some of what they said, but not enough. He needed to learn more. If this was the world he was going to live in; he had to understand it.

  The rest were inside, it was late, but the light through the big window, showed them all sitting, drinking wine. Making loud noises to hide their fear.

  He crept to the side of the house and climbing hand over hand over hand went up to the window, to the bathroom. He’d left the window open, but still too small for him. He knew they were loud, he broke the glass and crept into the room. The door was gone, and it was dark within. He stood still he could see clearly. There was broken glass on the floor, and their blood was cooling in pools, there was so much blood.

  He walked to stand in the blood; he could taste it through his roots. it still had power. Slowly, he let his roots suck it in. He fed on the blood as if it was water, drawing it into him. He then got down on his hands and knees and ran his arms through it repeatedly, drawing the power into him. He had removed almost all of it and felt strong. He was strong enough to do what he had to.

  He crept out of the bathroom the doorway, standing at the entrance. The downstairs light came from the main room. He knew they were all in there. He stepped down the hallway and towards the bedrooms. He knew who was who. After the bees, Bree stayed alone in a big room. He went at it. She was still downstairs. He had time. He reached out to the wall and climbed up it. His hands grew, slight vines, that gripped the wall, and he pulled his light body up. He crept up the wall and onto the high ceiling.

  It was dark, and he would wait, he could hold himself easily. On the roof, was a light, he knew they worked with a switch and if she put it on she’d see him. He reached out with one hand and closing it around the glass, crushed it with a popping sound. He closed his eyes, and he waited.

  Soon the girl stumbled into the room. She was loud and smelled of wine. He could hear her trying the switch. Heard it flick a few times.

  ‘shit’ was all she said. She must have had a lot of wine, as she just took her shoes off and then collapsed onto the bed. He could see her clearly from where he was, and he was almost right above her. She rolled onto her back and then looked up.

  He was still, and she didn’t see him. Her eyes closed again and pulled his hands to in front; he let himself drop onto her. He landed on top of the girl with his hand over her mouth. It had knocked the air from her, and she struggled to sit up.

  Still, there was fear in her eyes, but not as much as there should have been. He slowly pulled his hand away, and she didn’t scream.

  ‘How may I serve you?’ she said.

  He let her sit up; he understood that she was one of the priestesses, she would help him. That was good. He couldn’t speak to her, but she would help him anyway, slowly he reached out towards her and placed his hand on her head, he let his fingers grow, so he held her skull firmly in his hand, he felt her soft hair and her raising fear.

  ‘Give’ was all he thought as he let his eyes closed and she did. He felt her giving him her will, she didn’t know what he was asking, but she said yes. In his mind, his vision leaped back to her birth. Crawling from her mother. Her growing up, getting bigger and bigger. Going to a place of learning, as a child, then her lessons came to him. The words and the knowledge. Cars, school, teacher, police, friends.

  He watched her life pass by his eyes faster and faster. Suddenly, he knew it all, caravans, phones, work away. He saw her working at farms, looking for places that were strange, she was searching for something, and now she had found it. He saw her entire life before him, and now he could understand it all.

  He lingered on her memories of the last few days, they wanted to leave, but the police said no, they would only be here for a few more days, he’d have to use his new knowledge to stop them. He felt his mind was opening. Ideas and plan like he’d never had were coming to him. He knew what he had to do.

  The connection with the girl was strong, and she had felt him going through her mind, she knew what he was doing. She looked at him and tried to be brave, she spoke again.

  ‘Do I get a reward’ she asked

  His mind and hers were still connected, he thought

  ‘what do you want?’

  ‘What are you?’ she spoke

  He realized she would help him in his plans. She would be his weapon among them.

  She smiled feeling his happiness.

  ‘Obey me and the world will be yours, other people will fear you, and you will know the secrets of the life.’

  Chapter Seventeen

  Vicky woke the next day, alone in her room. The sun was shining in hot and full. She hadn’t set the alarm; she wasn’t doing any work anymore, they could suck it. She was still dressed and simply put on her boots and went downstairs.

  It was once again like the scene of hung over backpacker’s hostel. Everyone had done their best to drink away the worry and horror of the night's revelations. Still, a sense of foreboding hung over the house. It was clear everyone just wanted to leave, but they were here until the police said otherwise.

  She sat down at the breakfast table and was greeted by a very hung over looking Liam.

  ‘Gareth called, he’ll be here at 1.00’ he said

  She didn’t have a watch, just a phone, which was upstairs and not even charged, it didn’t work out here.

  ‘When is that? she asked.

  ‘About now’ he said.

  She truly had slept in. As she sat and started to roll her good morning smoke. Bree walked in. She was smiling and looked happy, it was weird.

  ‘Hello friends, sleep well’ she said, sitting down

  ‘Not really, given I was sleeping in the same house where two people were killed or killed themselves or died last night’ Vicky said.

  Bree just patted her arm ‘I know, I’m sorry, just trying to lighten the mood.’

  ‘It's dark for a good reason’ she said.

  Bree was acting very strange, even for her. The once quiet and shy girl with no f
riends was disappearing. She didn’t seem scared or worried at all. Of everyone, she seemed content to stay here.

  A car pulled up in front of the house, and she was glad. Gareth came out. in his hand, he had shopping bags full of snacks and beers. Trying to bribe them, was a good start.

  ‘Come on guys, lots more in the car’ he said and pulled a frowning face at them.

  He put the stuff down on the table and Vicky took another two bags from the back of his shiny black car. By the time she was inside, they were all sitting around the table. Lunch was served in the form of bags of crisps and noon beers.

  He was speaking fast and loud. His manner reminded her of a professional media consultant. He didn’t sound like a man whose brother was locked up; he sounded like a man who was trying to talk people out of suing him.

  ‘We or rather I, am in a very tough spot here. Some bad things have happened here, and I guess you all want to leave?’ he didn’t wait to hear their answer ‘I would too, now this farm still needs a lot of work, so when you leave we’ll need more volunteers and probably staff, but getting them will be near impossible if this all comes out’ he said.

  Vicky was mad as hell; it sounded like he wanted it all brushed under the carpet.

  ‘If what comes out, the deaths or the hidden cameras, or maybe the French family? She said.

  Everyone looked up ‘who is the French family’ Liam asked.

  Gareth tried to speak over her, but she just spoke louder ‘a family of five that all died here, twenty years ago’ she said.

  She saw Gareth was mad at her now, oh well, he could suck it too.

  ‘Anyway, what I need is for you all to sign these’ he said.

  He placed a stack of printed paper in front of them. She couldn’t believe this guy.

  She took one and started to read it, but Bree had already asked.

  ‘What does it say.’

  ‘Basically, it’s a non-disclosure agreement; you won’t talk about what happened here, you won’t write about it, blog about it, give interviews or tell anyone. You won’t testify against Roger, or me or anyone connected with the Lynch Family Winery.’ He said.

  She really couldn’t believe it, they were going for gold, really trying to hide it all. She realized it was more than this one farm. This case could smash their sales, in a huge way. These guys we’re making 10m a year in sales, Gareth had told her.

  ‘So, Roger, gets to walk and there are still videos of us out there’ Vicky said.

  ‘I'll get all the videos back, but yes, the only charges will be from the police themselves, but we will deal with that, if you all agree to this, it will be saying you give any statements or mention it, or we'll take back the payment and sue you.’

  The Italian couple had been quiet until now, just reading the forms.

  ‘what payment?’ the man asked.

  ‘$10,000 per person’ Gareth said.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Most of the other said yes to the money straight away and signed the paper right there. The Italian couple went out the front of the house and discussed it very loudly, screaming at each other and walking up and down in front of the window. Clearly, he wanted the money, and she was more worried, sadly videos of some dude taking a shower wouldn’t be that interesting to the global perv audience. She had a lot more to be worried about.

  She used the landline and called her boyfriend, it was still early but he should be awake, he normally got up at around 10:30. It rang only once and then answered. He must have had his mobile right next to his computer, that meant no sleep, which was good for her.

  He answered ‘baby, that you?’

  ‘It is, you get any sleep?’ she said.

  ‘not really, I’ve been working and have news but you first, any updates’ he said.

  ‘Well they just offered me 10 grand to sign something to shut up about the whole thing’ she said.

  ‘Take it’ he said.

  She was surprised that he’d said that, he was pissed off about Roger, but he sounded slightly scared.

  ‘Why?’ she asked.

  ‘I’ve tracked you mate Nick, he hasn’t updated his Facebook, he hasn’t responded to any emails in his inbox, his phone is dead, and he hasn’t spent any money on his banking’ he said.

  First, she let it sink in that her friendly boyfriend was fully able to get into someone’s banking and email accounts and then that Nick sounded dead if a cop said that to you, you’d be worried.

  ‘You think he’s dead?’ she asked.

  ‘Dead, or locked up in a country Australia torture room, these are dangerous people, just take the money, play along and get out as soon as you can’ he said.

  ‘what about the videos’ she asked.

  ‘It's a non-starter, this guy was amateur to the extreme, if you’re going to be a high tech perv you at least need a decent internet connection which he didn’t have. The video saved to a cloud and then he downloaded to his computer, only he had access, but there are only a few videos. I’ve seen yours, and they are grainy as shit, I could barely tell it was you. I deleted them, all. I tried to view one of the Germans, but the police beat me to it, it’s not in the cloud.’

  She felt relief and then not. The video issue was gone, now she could worry about being scared. She always trusted in the evil of strangers. If a neighbor was playing loud music at night it wasn’t because he was inconsiderate, it was because he was trying to cover up something worse.

  ‘Thanks, baby’ she said.

  ‘I can’t believe what a dickhead this guy is, I was actually looking forward to seeing you naked, it’s been like a week, but it was lower resolution than an iPhone 4’ he said. “and the camera position, you think this guy hadn’t heard of fog on glass!’

  She laughed ‘sorry about that.’

  “I will leave asap, if we’re not pressing charges, we don’t need to be here’ she said.

  ‘Should I get a flight, this is getting dodgy, the only reason I’m not up there now is I know you have other people around.’ He said.

  ‘yeah but that girl Bree is acting weird, did I tell you she gave me this charm bracelet thing, to protect me?’ she said.

  ‘Wow sounds wikkan, are you friend with a witch?’ he said, trying to lighten the mood.

  ‘I think so’ she said, ‘I’ll be fine, I’m sure once we sign it, Gareth will offer to take us all out of here, it will just take a day because he has one car and a lot of people.’ She said.

  ‘Don’t be nice, make sure you’re in the first car’ he said.

  “I’m not…

  As she spoke, she heard a click and the phone went dead. She looked at it and hit the receiver a few times. It was gone. She hung up the phone and found Gareth.

  ‘the phone went dead’ she said.

  ‘aww shit, probably a broken tree branch across the line. Did you get what you needed’ he said.

  ‘if I sign, when do we leave and when do ii watch you delete the videos’ she said.

  ‘I’ll call the cops now, and once they get here, I’ll confirm with them their all deleted, Roger can log in to his online thing. Then we can leave. I’m not staying here tonight, so I’ll take three back and come get the others tomorrow.’

  ‘Ok, I’ll sign once the police are here and I’ve seen the videos be deleted, I get cash, and I get a seat in the first car’’ she said as firmly as she could.

  He laughed ‘you might be the only smart one of them.’

  ‘Ok, I’ll call the Sargent and get him out here, can you and Liam could do one last job for me?’ he asked.

  ‘You can’t be serious?’ he said.

  ‘I am, I know you need to pack, but first, need you both to go see what happened to that phone line. It’s right at the front of the property. Long the road. Sometimes you can just take the branch off, and sometimes, it’s really broken’ he said.

  Liam walked up, ‘I’ll do it, I’m going crazy just sitting around in the house’ he said.

  They walked out of the h
ouse, towards the cable. Passing the Italians as they did, they weren’t yelling anymore. He looked triumphant, and she looked defeated. They were going to take the money. Everyone was. You really could buy your way out of trouble, and it only cost $50,000.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Most cases were straight forward. Jim was a straight forward guy. He had a nice family, a nice house, and job he liked most days. He’d sit in the station house and wait for the phone to ring. Usually a stolen something. He’d go to the pub on Friday, have two drinks, and talk to the locals, they were his friends, and he liked it. He’d been in the force a very long time and was a part of the community, he knew them, they knew him, it was a simple and good life.

  This case was beyond bizarre and was making him truly question everything. First, there was this perv making videos which made him sick. They had a video of the kids dying, and he had to watch it even though they were both naked and prancing around. He ignored the nudity, except to get more pissed off at this guy, and watched it, for the fourth time. He still couldn’t believe it. The laptop was set up on his desk, the computer crimes team had deleted all the videos off it, but this one, it was evidence, evidence of what he didn’t know. It was very grainy and bad quality, but you could see what was happening, just not the finer detail, like who they really were. Bad for blackmail or porn, but good enough for his purposes.

  Kim was with him’ what are we seeing?’ he asked her.

  ‘I have no idea sarg’ she said.

  On the screen, it replayed itself. They were in the shower, being a bit frisky, then they both looked up at the glass shower screen at the same time. It was hard to see through the glass because the screen was covered in the red and black bodies of hundreds of scorpions.

  He’d seen them often enough, wood scorpions, they were. Harmless enough or he’d thought so until he’d watched this. The video still shocked him, fourth time around. The creatures seemed to have a murder on their minds, they crawled over the top and leaped onto the poor kids trapped in there. They stung them on the faces, necks, bodies, all just stinging hundreds of times. Then the boy started to bang on the glass, it shattered, and the glass shards cut them both.