Andras: Beyond Good and Evil

by S L Zammit

  A loud crashing noise in the distance interrupts Aurora. She instinctively huddles close to Ariel.

  “Forget the past for now,” he says urgently. “We all make mistakes.” Springing up, he unhooks one of the bodies from the ceiling, and dropping the carcass to the ground, releases the sharp metal hook. “Stay very close to me and use this to protect yourself,” he whispers. Handing her the large hanger, he unhooks the next body and detaches a weapon for himself.

  “This is a hell pit,” he whispers urgently. “We can’t stay here or we’ll be easy prey. You are about to see horrific things. Stay by my side, but keep focused and aware. Your mind might be tricked into thinking this is an illusion, be aware that it’s not. The monsters you see are real. What’s not real is the mind games they play to trap you.”

  Ariel walks among the rows of hanging bodies towards the back of the locker and rushing to keep up with him, Aurora stumbles on her broken heels.

  “Discard your shoes,” he says sternly. “Be ready to run. We’re about to enter the labyrinth.”

  “Won’t they see us?” asks Aurora flipping off her shoes and slipping them into her bag. “They have cameras everywhere.”

  “I’ve disabled them all,” he says winking at her. “What did you think I was doing up there before I was seized?”

  Ariel pushes open the swinging door at the end of the locker. Deafening music reverberates around the dark tunnel, strobe lights flash intermittently casting beams across the black walls.

  “Stay by my side,” he says grabbing her arm. “Never lose sight of me. Understand?”

  Aurora nods and rushes to keep up with him. The tunnel splits into two passages. Ariel takes the wider central one leading further into the maze.

  Following him closely, Aurora discerns sounds of growling and distant screaming mingled with the beats of music. The rapid flash of light from the strobe reveals the terrified faces of a few of the young girls she had seen entering the maze. The girls cower, sobbing and shivering in the darkness as they go past a pile of Minotaur carcasses.

  Aurora swallows back on her gag reflex at the image of the butchered bodies on the ground, limbs torn off, flesh dangling, masks ripped or askew over horrified facial expressions.

  Stopping in his tracks, Ariel waits for the light to flash across the bloodied skins of the girls. “Run to the end of this passage,” he yells over the music, “and take the path on the right. It leads to the exit. Go! Now!”

  “Shouldn’t we just go with them,” Aurora yells at Ariel as the girls run past her. “Let’s just get out of here.”

  “There’s something we need to do first,” he says in her ear, tightening his grip around her arm. “Trust me. Just remember all the turns we make.”

  Aurora reluctantly follows the man into the darkness, the music sounds louder the farther they go. ‘Right, left, right, right,’ she repeats to herself.

  Feeling herself rise from the ground, she screams as a flash of light reveals Ariel, a few steps ahead of her, in the grips of a snarling hellhound, demon eyes flashing red in the dark, fangs exposed.

  Suddenly realizing what’s happening as she’s being lifted, she swings the metal hook across the face of the beast gripping her in mid-air as it materializes. She sways her arm in all directions, slashing at the creature. Her eyes meet Ariel’s as the beast flings her to the ground and the buzzing of flies disperses around the corridor.

  “Great job,” he mouths. “Next time aim between the eyes, it’s quicker.”

  “Well thanks for not telling me earlier,” she yells at him angrily, adrenalin pumping through her veins.

  Ariel turns to face her, a mischievous glint in his eyes flashing in the lights of the strobe, but before he can utter a word he’s raised from the ground as two hellhounds materialize around him. Aurora springs forward, hook in hand and swings at the beasts’ snouts barely missing him.

  “You’re good at this,” he says as large, black flies buzz around them, and then almost dragging her, he proceeds into the tunnels.

  Along the way, terrified girls huddle in the dark. “Left, left, right, left, left, right, run out of here! Quick!” yells Aurora, addressing the girls.

  Hellhounds materialize out of the floor of the pit as the girls run to safety. Aurora is lifted and clawed, but the more savage the attacks, the more determined and aggressive her retaliations become.

  Finally catching up with Ariel, “They’re coming out of the ground,” she yells. Pointing to a groove in the wall, she climbs onto the ledge with Ariel following closely.

  “Look,” she whispers in his ear, eyes wide, huddling close to him in the dark.

  The carcass of a man appears at the side of the passageway in the pulsing lights and then disappears as the strobe flashes on a hellhound. The beast moves towards the dead body and grabbing it by the hair, drags the corpse down the hall in the direction of the locker, completely ignoring them.

  “They’re collecting the bodies and taking them to the meat locker,” she whispers in his ear.

  She observes Ariel’s head nodding in the dark and motioning her to follow him as he crawls along the ledge. Positioning her purse across her back, hook firmly in hand, she follows him. Repeating the directions out of the maze in her head, ‘Left, left, right, left, left, right, left, left, left, right, left, left, left, right, then four lefts and a right.’ As she repeats the directions in her head, she discovers a pattern in the network of passages leading to the center.

  Along the way, hellhounds drag bodies out of the labyrinth, but they don’t seem to notice Aurora and Ariel. The air in the maze gets colder the farther they go.

  Finally, Ariel stops crawling as the ledge drops to the ground, and motioning her to follow, climbs off into the open space. Aurora clambers in pursuit, dropping to the ground. Lifting her head, looking for her companion, she freezes in her spot. Ariel is nowhere to be seen.

  The lights flash on a huge, grotesque creature filling most of the space. Standing up on hooves, he has the body of a giant covered in black fur, his leg, abdominal, arm and neck muscles bulging. In one hand he wields a large axe and the other is curled into a fist, which he raises and swings as a show of force. The head is that of a massive bull crowned with two large, gray horns. His demon eyes flash red in the dark, his drooling mouth snarls viciously exposing sharp fangs.

  The room spins around Aurora as the beast slowly opens his fist and reaches out towards her, grabbing her by the chest, lifting her off the ground bringing her closer to his snout.

  Inches away from the beast’s mouth, the dizzying stench of sulfur hits Aurora, snapping her out of her petrified state. “I will not die like this,” she screams, swinging at the monster’s face with her hook, lashing at his fierce eyes and snout.

  The look in the beast’s eyes transforms into one of surprise as the hook pierces his face, blood gushing, matting his fur. Seemingly shocked by the assault, he squeezes Aurora’s body until she can hardly breathe and lifts his axe over his head aiming at her. Anger bursting inside, her blood boiling, she continues to stab him until the metal hook pierces his protruding temple bone. His grip on her loosens and he drops his axe.

  She hears him whimper, but just as she’s about to dispense the final blow between his eyes, the music dies and bright illumination lights up the area.

  Her eyes adjusting to the bright light, she notices the floor beneath the cowering bloodied creature open up and close over him.

  The floor now seamless, the room looks almost normal apart from the lingering smell of the beast, the blood splattered on the floor and the searing pain around her abdomen and chest where he grabbed her. Looking down she notices spatters of blood on her ripped clothes and skin. Ariel is nowhere to be seen.

  The sound of clapping hands reverberates around the room through the overhead speakers startling her.

  “Bravo,” says a familiar voice, sounding entertained.

  A door at the end of the room slides open, and the black-eyed man walks in, ap
plauding, an amused grin on his face. He looks impeccable in a perfectly tailored suit, his expensive-looking shoes buffed to a gleaming luster.

  Studying his face, Aurora realizes that he doesn’t look quite as scary as she remembered. Maybe overly-Botoxed and primped, but nowhere near as creepy as she had thought the first time she met him. Here, in his element, he looks almost normal.

  Behind him, two of the Rottweiler security guards are dragging Ariel along the corridor. Ariel is back in shackles, a hood over his drooping head.

  “I was informed you were mischievous and resourceful, nevertheless I’m greatly impressed!” says the man grinning. “Tonight’s stunt will cost me a pretty penny for sure. Your wild rampage all over my establishment, we’ll have to close down for a few nights at least! Hopefully our reputation stays intact! Why, you just destroyed my favorite prop!” He walks towards her, slipping his arm around her waist embracing her. “If it were anyone else but my little girl, I wouldn’t be so amused. That thing cost me a small fortune!”

  “What do you mean?” yells Aurora moving away from him. “This is no stunt. I saw the murdered people and the dangling bodies in the meat locker. That vicious thing that just attacked me was diabolical!”

  The man looks at her, seemingly confused by her words. She notices his head tilt slightly backwards and the room fills with his roaring laughter.

  Studying his gestures, Aurora deems his reaction sincere, and feels embarrassed standing in the well-lit room, horribly disheveled with a bloodied metal hook in hand, facing the impeccably dressed, soft-spoken man.

  “What you have just destroyed was the product of modern science at its finest! A laboratory produced clone, a cross between a gorilla and a bull. He was clandestinely created for us by one of the finest embryologists in the world for a very hefty fee. You might argue that his existence was unethical, but I can assure you, there was nothing demonic about him. He was actually a harmless creature, quite docile if you ask me! And you can attest to that yourself! He didn’t harm you even though you beat him to death! I can imagine his bewilderment, poor beast! He was all for show, his only purpose was the entertainment of our patrons at Club Débauche. There were no murdered people and hanging bodies Aurora! This is a place for adult entertainment. We cater to our patron’s desires. In this day and age, it is increasingly difficult to get people excited about an establishment. The Internet has practically destroyed us! This is theatre! Our patrons pay for this kind of excitement. We have girls lining up around the block wanting to work for us! What you saw are paid actors, movie props and holograms. This is what I do. I’m an entrepreneur. I provide people with the excitement they’re looking for. Moral or not, mine is hands down the most profitable entertainment establishment in all of Paris. Up until tonight’s fiasco. We’ll see!”

  The man seems sincere and as he smiles at her, Aurora feels a warm flush rushing to her cheeks.

  “What about Ariel?” she asks. “Where are you taking him?”

  “If by Ariel you mean that biker punk who just maliciously destroyed my entire computer network, I’m sorry, but we’re going to rough him up real good before we hand him over to the authorities,” he says, annoyance resounding in his voice. “Unfortunately for him, we have to teach him a lesson he won’t forget!”

  “I’m happy you came to us Aurora,” he continues softly, calming down, moving towards her, his arm back around her waist as he gently removes the meat hook from her hand. “You’re my daughter and I’ve wanted you with me for years! Now I realize that maybe I was right to wait. The development of your path in life started when you found that box Tony stole from the church. It has brought you so much good fortune and you’ve exploited every opportunity that presented itself. People use conscience as a cowardly shield, an excuse for their failures. Your actions have shown that you take after me. All I’ve built is for you. You don’t want to work for those unbearable, holier-than-thou people for the rest of your life do you? You’re my daughter. You’re nobody’s errand girl! I’m very wealthy and powerful. We’re family, I’ll make sure you’re well taken care of.”

  Again, Aurora finds herself disconcerted by his knowledge of the details of her life she had so carefully obscured. As he stands before her, his almost-regal appearance emanating legitimacy, she feels absolutely certain that the man had held her under surveillance for a long time. It was likely that he had her followed since childhood, in those moments when she had felt so vulnerable, his shadowing providing a certain protection.

  Her experience and dealings with the Montforts had revealed, on various occasions, the fascination of the very wealthy with private investigators and their stacks of investigative reports, detailing every move of those being spied upon.

  For a moment, she feels grateful and inclined towards attributing all her successes to the mysterious man. Although not inclined toward superstition, she finds herself inwardly agreeing with him, her life had in fact taken a positive turn soon after that box had come into her possession. Then, the image of the slovenly, fuddled woman, mopping the filthy floor with dirty water, flashes before her eyes.

  “But my mother Celeste!” argues Aurora, looking accusingly into the man’s eyes, her voice high-pitched and insistent. “If what you say is true, why is my mother mopping floors? She looks terrible! And what was her insane reaction towards me all about?”

  “Unfortunately, it has been a downward spiral for Celeste,” says the man, his facial features clouded with authentic sadness.

  The man’s face, that had, on their previous encounter, seemed incapable of any emotion, now exudes sensitivity and empathy.

  “Her mental health has always been an issue. Your mother was diagnosed as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia a long time ago. I’ve tried so hard to help her over the years. I’ve sent her to the finest psychiatric institutions, nevertheless her condition kept deteriorating while under the care of the best doctors in France. The only way she seems to function is by assuming these imaginary roles. I’m at my wits’ end with her. I’ve always kept a very close eye on her, making sure she gets all her personal needs met. And although I’m pretty sure she’s not taking any of her medications, we’re doing everything we can for her. I’ve given her free reign to everything I own. Other than that, I don’t know what else I can do.”

  Picturing the crazed look in her mother’s eyes and her own insane behavior in the maze, being now faced with the man’s earnest words, Aurora feels thoroughly mortified.

  “I’m sorry for all the trouble I caused,” she says feeling genuinely embarrassed, “but I thought…”

  The words sound in her head before she utters them, ‘I thought this was a hell trap crawling with murdering demons. And I thought you had a meat locker in back packed with Minotaur snacks.’

  Feeling ridiculous, she stops talking.

  “My dear girl,” coaxes the man, a mocking smile on his lips, “you’re a clever, educated woman. What makes most sense to you?”

  “You’re right,” says Aurora. “What I was imagining makes no sense at all. I have to admit though, everything I saw in your labyrinth is pretty convincing.”

  “It’s our labyrinth my dear,” he says smiling. “Like I said, we’re the best at what we do! And now I have to go and fix the mess that punk created, or we’ll be driven out of business.”

  “And I have to get back to the hotel,” says Aurora. “I lost track of time and I’m sure it’s very late. I have a plane to catch early in the morning.”

  “Oh no!” says the man sounding disappointed. “I was hoping you’d stay. At least wait in my office till I sort things out and we can chat some more. We have years of catching up to do. I was hoping to get to know you a little better.”

  Although Aurora wants nothing more than to get out of the place and never return, she hesitates.

  “You’ve just brutally murdered my favorite pet!” he coaxes. “You at least owe me a few hours of your company!”

  “Oh all right then,” says Aurora relu
ctantly. “But I need to use a bathroom. I’m a mess.”

  “Of course,” he says happily. “I’ll have one of the boys escort you.”

  Aurora follows the man out of the room into a corridor leading to the elevator upstairs. Harrowing screams haunt the passageway, and although convinced that the pained clamor is part of the show, Aurora rises on the tips of her toes and peeks into the small glass window in the door from where the screams seem to be emanating.

  Stripped down to his boxer shorts, Ariel, his back towards her, hangs stretched by leather straps binding his arms and legs to the four corners on the opposite walls of the room. A Rottweiler stands on each side of him, one of them holds a braided leather bullwhip, the other a studded chain flogger.

  Horrified, Aurora watches as each man whips Ariel repeatedly, each lash ripping the skin off his back causing blood to spray across the room. Both security guards seem to be enjoying themselves tremendously.

  “Is that absolutely necessary?” she asks, her voice quivering.

  The man is watching her closely, an amused smile on his lips.

  “That’s what happens to whoever crosses me,” he says softly, grabbing her arm and pulling her away from the scene.

  Ariel’s screams follow them down the corridor to the elevator. Aurora is about to protest, but the look on the man’s face scares her into silent compliance.

  Once out of the elevator, the man hands her off to one of his security guards. “This is my daughter Aurora,” he tells him. “Escort her to my office.”

  “I need to go to the bathroom first,” interjects Aurora.

  “Yes of course dear,” he says to Aurora. Then turning to Rottweiler, “Stay with her at all times.”

  Aurora follows Rottweiler to the bathroom, Ariel’s screams still resounding in her head. Celeste is still mopping circles into the corridor floor, the bucket of muck by her side, both hands gripping the mop, her arms moving clockwise and counterclockwise in the same spot. The woman chuckles as she sees them approach.