The Tapestry

by Wigmore, Paul

  Gavin untied the package to find a set of eyes looking back at him, blood swathed over the side of her face and he recognised it to be Jane...Craig’s girl.

  ‘An eye for an eye and all that’ Saul spoke into his ear as Gavin’s smile broadened. He looked between the two of them; Craig was sniffing around, wanting to come closer and investigate but not wanting another kick in the face. Jane was beginning to come around. She struggled against the ropes that the little demon had bound her with.

  ‘Let me up.. l.. let me up, what’s going on’ the terror in her voice was all too evident. At the sound of her voice Craig’s head snapped up towards the new voice and he scurried round in a circle, looking at Gavin and then back at the other thing with the softer voice. He looked up at Gavin again as if waiting for permission. That kick had taught him well.

  ‘Well come on then, dinner’s not gonna eat itself now is it?’ And with permission granted the little beetle man scampered over to the thing on the floor. He had no recognition of what or who she was. He just knew that she smelled nice and wanted to taste her too, he sniffed around her like a wild animal.

  ‘Craig, what have they done to you... get me out of here love, please... what are you doing... please.... honey?’

  Gavin bent down on one knee at her side and brushed her hair out of her eyes,

  ‘He doesn’t recognise you any more my sweet. He only sees you as possible food now, although he may not be hungry right now as I have just watched him eating his own shit for a while, much to my distaste, I’m going to have to teach him some table manners I can see.’

  She struggled trying to move her face away from his hand, but she had been bound tightly, arms behind her back and legs together. She was still half wrapped in a bin liner and breaking free just didn’t seem possible.

  ‘What have you done to him you sick bastard...why?’ she trailed off as Craig came a little closer and began sniffing round her mid section and licking at her exposed belly.

  ‘Craig... Craig love it’s me... Jane? Love I don’t know what they have done to you, but you’ve got to remember me love pleeeease’ she begged. His only response was to slap at her face.

  ‘Craig, stop it’, another slap at her face, he was beginning to resemble a little monkey and she could see no recognition in his eyes. She tried to wriggle free but there was no give in her bindings at all.

  Gavin and Saul had returned to the bar area so that they might get a clear view without the mess.

  ‘Please honey, come on lets get out of here’ but there was no point in talking to him, whenever she spoke he just dashed his hand at her face. He then began to tear at her clothes and the bin liner she had been wrapped in. As he tore at her clothes he began to tear at her skin. Little rivers of blood trickled down her abdomen, and this seemed to excite him further. She screamed in agony and this just annoyed him even more, he took a great swipe at her face, he obviously liked his food to be quiet. Her head smashed into the concrete beneath and little comet like trails exploded across her vision. She tried to kick herself free but couldn’t muster enough strength to lift both her legs, so she then decided to use the floor as leverage and try to push herself away. She managed an inch or so before he realised what she was doing and pounced on top of her. He continuously smashed her around the face till she was unconscious and then went back to work. The little beetle ripped her clothes off her or as much as he could with her arms and legs tied up and went back to her stomach. It looked so tasty and fresh, he licked the blood that was running freely from the scratches he had left there before, and it tasted good but not as good as the first bite. He sunk his teeth into the fleshy mound before him and tore away a large chunk of her stomach. She jumped up, the pain bringing her back around. She had never in her life felt so much pain. She saw Craig, her former lover sat beside her, blood dripping from his chin onto his bare chest, and something flapping around his mouth, it only took a split second to realise what that was before she screamed so hard he actually jumped away in surprise.

  Her eyes were filled with terror as she dared to look at the gaping wound in her stomach although she didn’t need to look to confirm the terrible agony she could feel. The pain ripped through her like a hot knife through butter. She could feel the agonising dread that she was about to faint as the shock began to set in, but she knew if she passed out now, she wasn’t going to be waking up. Now’s not the time for sleeping, you silly cow. You gotta hustle bitch. Her father had always instilled it into her that she shouldn’t dilly daddle. If she wanted to make anything of herself, she had to hustle, had to keep movin’. Never had those words meant more to her than now. She could feel the blackness enclosing around her with that slight dizzy feeling that always accompanies the darkness just before you fall. She saw Craig just before the blackness took over completely and he was coming closer to her, still with that piece of skin flapping about from his mouth, and she bit down so hard on her bottom lip that it began to bleed. The pain and shock brought her back around and she tried to push away from what was Craig, she could see there was nothing left of Craig now. Whatever they had done to him was “Done and done”, another of her Fathers favourite sayings.

  She was in an awkward position and having her hands and legs bound made it difficult to move but she knew she had to. She pushed herself along the floor, her shoulder scraping along the concrete and then with her feet pushed again and again. All the while tears flowed and mixed in with the blood on her face. Repeatedly she sobbed,

  ‘Why...why?’ She realised she was never going to get away but there was a little voice in the back of her mind somewhere telling her not to give up, just gotta hustle girl and that voice was permanently put to sleep when she felt Craig pull her back towards him. She shrieked an anguished cry as he came round and began licking her stomach again, and then she felt the tearing as he ripped into her skin like some sort of rabid dog. She was numb with pain and shock, he lifted his head up once and she saw his face full of blood and he had something in his mouth and sat down to chew it properly, it could have been her kidney or maybe her liver, she wasn’t sure. She vaguely recalled that she hated the way Craig always used to eat with his mouth open, he was doing the same thing now, only uttering the words Beetle, beetle, beetle as he did so. What she saw next filled her with such dread that she wished she were dead or that she would pass out right now and be done with it, that way she wouldn’t feel the pain any more but... no that wasn’t going to happen, although she did feel a slight grogginess wash over her and at least she would be dead soon, that was for sure. It seemed that the beetle Craig had a penchant for blood as he was now aroused and playing with himself; he was rubbing whatever it was he had ripped from inside of her all over himself. The words beetle, beetle, beetle with each stroke. He threw the meat away when he was done with it and then turned his attentions back to her. The grogginess was really settling in now and no amount of biting her lip was going to help. The loss of blood (and organs) wasn’t helping her in her mission to stay awake and get out of there, although she really did know now that it wasn’t ever going to happen, she was never getting out of there, not alive anyway. Just as she had resigned herself to this, she felt his weight on top of her and a pain like no other as he had obviously made some loose connection with the piece of meat that was giving him so much pleasure before. Well there was more of the pleasure giving meat inside of her so he had shoved himself deep into the hole he had made and was now thrusting hard into the wound, all the while just that one word over and over again. She could no longer feel any pain; her last thought was great I’m truly being fucked to death.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Gavin let his little pet finish its meal as he sat in the big wing back chair across from Saul. The demon seemed quite excitable tonight.

  ‘Well I believe I have held up my part of our little bargain and now it is time for you to uphold yours’. Saul spoke softly and serenely, his voice was like a velvet wind brushing by. His purple eyes deeper than ever and a seriousn
ess in his face conveyed with just one look. ‘Your wish is my command’ laughed Gavin as they clinked their glasses together.

  He thought he could no longer be shocked at the depravity of this man Saul, not after the terrible deeds he had taught him, not after everything he had witnessed and the acts of pure evil he had committed himself since knowing this... this demon man, and he wasn’t wrong, but when Saul explained his plan to him, he was shocked. Not in the sense any normal being would be shocked, he was just shocked at the enormity of the plan and genius behind it. Saul really was the master of all evil and he was still in awe at this man/ demon.

  Once they knew it was a pub somewhere (they hoped) in the English countryside it didn’t take much searching on her trusty little lappy as she liked to call it, to find the pub called “The Trident”. As soon as the image was displayed on the screen she knew it to be the one.

  ‘That’s it, that’s the one, that’s the one the dragons showed me,’ she exclaimed rather hurriedly as she stood up from the swivel chair and clasping her hands together before motioning Seb to take a look.

  ‘Mmmm well that’s ok then, not too far, nice little drive too’ Clara hadn’t even thought to look at the blurb surrounding the picture describing where it was or anything, she was too amazed about actually finding the very same pub that the dragons showed her in her visions. She stopped pacing round and leaned back over towards the screen again for a more detailed inspection of the page in front of her,

  ‘Oh I’m such an idiot, didn’t even think... so where is it then? She enquired as she toyed with the mouse. She hated computers as they were meant to speed things up, but all they ever seemed to do was either crash or infect themselves with viruses. She couldn’t fault them now though otherwise they would never have found The Trident.

  ‘Well it looks to me, to be in the middle of bloody nowhere’ cut in Seb as he shifted her hand from the mouse, knowing her weaknesses with technology, he thought it best to search himself or they would be there all day he thought without voicing. Clara happily relinquished the mouse but sat down in front of the screen, Seb leaning over her shoulder. ‘Here... see. It looks like its set back in the hills above some place in The Peaks, above some little village called Wirksworth’ He scrolled down to show her more images of the pub, it really was secluded. She didn’t see how it could stay open, but then it must get a lot of walkers and tourists throughout the holiday season she thought. The next image was of the far side of the pub and they both drew in a short gasp at what they saw. There it was, fixed to the side of the exterior wall. Black as night against the bright white of the stone wall... The Trident. It looked to be maybe six or seven feet long and made of heavy duty iron.

  ‘And just what in the blue blazes am I going to do with that, I’ll never as much lift it, never mind wield it like some crazy jousting stick?’ Seb tried to control his laughter which only made it worse; he expelled a spray of it all over Clara before having to rest on the arm of the sofa. Just the thought of her not being able to fulfil her destiny and defeat “The evil one” because her weapon was too heavy was just a little too much for him to bear. He pictured her stood there lamely holding “The Trident” while some demonic beast pranced mockingly around in front of her. He just couldn’t hold it in any longer, he slapped his leg as the raucous laughter expelled itself from within.

  ‘Excuse me... excuse me.. Mr Demon, would you mind awfully jumping on the pointy end of my Trident thingy. It’s just that it’s a tad heavy for me to lift you see’ the tears were streaming down his face so much so that he had to brush them from his eyes as he got up from the arm and leant a hand on the back of the swivel chair. His laughing stopped as soon as he looked into those usually bright blue eyes that were now a darker blue, he felt the wind in the room begin to stir.

  ‘Ok...ok I get it, not amused’ he said, lifting his hand to placate her.

  ‘When you’ve quite finished.’ at that moment she reminded him so much of an old school ma’am and he felt like a chided schoolboy, ‘We’ve got packing to do.’.

  CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

  Both demon and apprentice had been reciting the little school verse over and over now since Saul had invoked the demonic spirit known to be Lilith, a former lover and worshipper of Satan himself who infected the blood coursing from both their fingers now into a large goblet type glass with a metal stand, large enough to hold a full half a bottle of wine (or blood for that matter). She had come to them in a storm of fire, demanding to know who dare to call upon her. She was dressed in nothing but long dark cascading curls of thick dark hair that wrapped itself around her like a cloak. The marks of Satan still etched into her once beautiful skin like cattle brandings, red welts angrily etched into her otherwise plague white skin. This was hallowed ground that she had been called to, protected by angels and only Satan himself was immune to these holy grounds, but she had the blood of her former lover and brother coursing through her own veins, so for a short while was also immune to the Angels. But she could feel them, the memories of the long ago fallen warriors trying to touch her in her their delicate little ways, the music she could hear was that of the angels guarding this hallowed ground. It made her want to vomit up the remains of the last newborn she had eaten.

  ‘I am the mother of all Succubae, wife and sister of Satan and first wife of Adam, what authority has called upon me?’ she demanded to know as the flames around her leapt higher and her cloak like hair flew back, revealing her nakedness to them both. As she saw them both she made towards Gavin in a flying fit of madness, her feet left the ground and she flew though the air between them, emitting a banshee like cry, her face contorted with anger at this weasel like man, but before her hands met his throat, Saul shook off the facade of human form and rose steadily from his chair, grabbing the outstretched arm of Lilith. She looked upon the demon that he truly was. His body was now a full fifteen feet high, his talons clicked together around her wrist and she saw into those deep purple eyes and his tongue which looked to Gavin to resemble that of a snake flicked in and out of his mouth between such a set of teeth it would gain the envy of any crocodile skulking in the reeds.

  ‘You forgot to mention me, my little whore for hire’. The flames died down and she was notably shocked to see another of her former lovers. She fell weak at the recognition inside of herself. Saul had been Satan’s greatest enemy all those eons ago and she had lain with him to incite anger into her brother. Lilith was still a virgin though when she had lain with Saul. Not in the biblical sense, but in the sense that she had never felt any affection for another being, she had only laid with Satan to anger God after she left Adam and ran to the red sea, but Saul...she had felt some sort of kinship with and she had been searching for him all over the planes of hell and purgatory trying to avoid Satan and his legions for many a lifetime since and now here she was again with Gods prodigal son that will never return, holding him in her gaze as he lowered her to the floor softly like a child.

  ‘I still need him right now, do not lay your hands upon him’ he said with a steely voice that would not be challenged, but she had already forgotten all about the little half demon.

  ‘I’ll leave your little pet alone if you make love to me now, in fact no don’t make love to me’ she purred at him as she jumped into his waiting arms ‘no lets not do that, I want you to take me and take me now as I have been searching for you for so long and I have lain with so many boring men, and goats for that matter... no don’t make love to me, make me feel like the whore you know I am, make me alive again like you have before, lets fuck till Satan cries for the quietening of my screams’ And they did but before the two demonic souls joined together again Saul sat down with Gavin and explained how Lilith would help them in their plan to make Gavin the ruler of the world. Lilith, and Lilith alone knew the incantation to bring the words of the old nursery rhyme to fruition and that is why he had called upon her. Saul explained the meaning of the old school rhyme, and the words of the nursery rhyme now made perfect sen
se to Gavin. He was happy to know that Saul had just been preparing him for this moment; the piece de resistance Saul called it. “After this, all of mankind will bow to you, they will kneel and kiss the very ground you tread on if you so wish. This will sincerely be your crowning glory, you will hold the world to ransom, and rightly so. The world has shown you no love, since you were a child...you owe them nothing” Gavin’s mind momentarily took him back to “the bad place” and even now the anger and hatred that he still held began to simmer in the pit of his stomach.

  Saul could see Gavin’s mind begin to wander, he also knew Gavin would never truly be able to fight the battle that he and he alone knew would be upon them very soon unless he rid himself of this demon inside once and for all. He lifted his hand from the glass, blood trickling towards the curvature at the bottom from himself and his protégé. It met in the middle and pooled together, it was like a meeting of minds between the two of them, blood, body and soul.

  ‘Go, go now and do what must be done as we have work to do and tomorrow a new dawn begins...And it will be OURSSSS, the blood of Lilith now runs through you, If I knew such a thing then I would pity those who met with you this night. You have till dawn breaks to return... Go now.

  And he did, he left the two of them to their demonic desires and went in search of his childhood tormentor. He shook off his physical form and became a flying consciousness soaring through the air, it made for much quicker travelling without the hindrances of modern day transport. It didn’t take long for him to pick up the scent of “the man”. All he had to do was look back into the twisted corridors of his own mind and find him there. Keeping that image open was like creating a physical link between the two of them. He was on cruise control now, headed straight for him.