by O. M. Grey
"They knew what they were getting into. I needed my space, my independence. Always have. Told you the same thing. I will not be tied down. They knew from the start. I didn't lie."
"Yes, well, it seems you are rather tied down at the moment, aren't you, sir? We both know you lie with the truth, Mr. Jeffries. With those captivating green eyes and your truth spoken from the corner of your mouth, while your hands and your lips and your body and your breath tell them they are special, convincing them they are loved and cherished and adored.” I paced in front of him, reveling in this moment. Finally, to be the woman to take this monster down was exhilarating. He would pay for everything he did to each of them. Every lie. Every manipulation. Every violation. ”You made them feel unique and loved, didn’t you? Telling them you love them. Telling them you've never felt like this before. Allowing them to believe it is forever. I know it is what you did to them, sir, because it is what you did to me. Four times. I did play my part well, though, didn't I? Yes. I am rather proud, as convincing as you. Remember when we last made love, as I do know you love to call it that. It does help with your mask, does it not? You were angry with me, as I remember, and you showed me who was in control. I saw it in your eyes. I felt it in every thrust of your hips as you rammed yourself down my throat. I was choking and pushing you away, but you paid me no mind. It was, after all, what you wanted, as usual. Always what you want, when you want, how you want. It was not about sharing. No. It was about power and control. That, sir, is called rape."
"Don't be ridiculous, woman. I didn't rape you or the others. You're daft. Just like Charlotte. She belongs in Bedlam, telling people such lies, and you do as well. You're mad."
"Then, after you violated me, you brushed it aside, telling me you loved me. It would've destroyed my soul, if it hadn’t already been shattered beyond repair by men like you long ago. Shattered to the point of annihilation. Now I shatter men like you, and I certainly do not want for victims. I do take such delight in victimizing victimizers. In abusing abusers. In violating rapists on every level, as you do to all those women. For five hundred years I've taken such delight in exacting justice on men like you, those society ignores and even celebrates in their ignorance, blaming and punishing your victims again and again."
"Five hundred years? Now I know you are mad. Let me out of these restraints, this instant!" He didn't raise his voice, but rather his voice became low and calm. All affect washed from his face and it was stone. His eyes, void. Empty.
There he was.
The real Jeffries: a vacant, soulless monster, rearing his ugly face once again, but his cold rage didn't faze me.
Now I was in control.
"I shan't, actually. I have plans for you. We are going to set a few things right, you and I. Indeed. Before this is over, your women—you know, the ones who have a tendency to get hurt—will receive some peace of mind, some compensation."
"Over my dead body."
"If it comes to that, which it rarely does. Although, you will beg for death, before the end.”
"Let me out of these restraints, this instant," he repeated, but this time there was a quiver to his voice.
"Do you not believe my age, sir? You call me mad, sir?"
"I do."
"Very well. I'll show you." Leaning over his bound arms and looking into those empty eyes, I showed him. For but a moment, my eyes turned from hazel to sable black and back again. I impressed upon him centuries of violation and fear and pain, the emotions he had forced upon others. My entire existence of pain, pushed into this man’s black heart for just a moment, giving him a taste of his future.
He yelped, trying to scoot away from me, but my will held him in place. Nowhere to go, not anymore.
I twisted my hair up into a bun and emptied my reticule onto the bed between his legs. The poppet. The loppers. The razor.
His fear reached the breaking point, and he vomited on himself, entire body trembling in fear. Tears streamed down his face for a change. It was rather pleasurable to watch. “Please, I'll do whatever you want."
"Yes, that's quite true. Quite, quite true.”
“Please,” he begged. “Please, Cyndi. My sweet Cyndi, or whoever you are, you know I love you. Please. You don’t want to do this. We can be together. I was wrong. It’s you. It’s always been you.”
“It’s over, Roderick.” Jeffries turned his head to the door, looking toward the voice that spoke.
“Come in, Miss Bainbridge,” I said. She was right on time. “Hungry?”
“Famished,” she said, taunting him.
“Sorry for the mess,” I said, indicating Jeffries’ dinner covering his muscular chest.
“No worries, I can take it from elsewhere.”
“Bon appetit, Ava. Then, my turn.”
Vulnerable, spread wide across his own bed, on which he had ruined so many, Avalon descended. His eyes revealed abject fear, perhaps the only genuine emotion I’d ever seen on his face. He had been exposed, and nothing terrified a man like him more than exposure, except maybe annihilation. Horrifying for him to face the reality that he was just human after all. He would die and decay, just like any other person. He was not a god, not superior after all. He, in the end, was just a pathetic bully.
Helpless.
Avalon ripped open his inner thigh, and he shouted as she tore his flesh, which made the most satisfying sound. She fed, her power growing with every swallow. Her body filled with strength. I felt the energy of the room shift. “Careful, Ava. Remember, we’re not going to kill him. That would be too easy for him. No. His fate will be much worse than death.”
“You’re not going to kill me? You had better kill me. I have very influential friends, and I will have you both destroyed. You will—“
“Do shut up, Jeffries.” I clamped his mouth shut with a snap of my fingers. “Back to intimidation and threats again, Rod? Please. I have grown past weary of your squeaky voice, of your claims of grandeur and privilege and superiority. Enough. That’s all over now. Embrace the present, Roderick. For this moment is all there is. This agonizing moment will last lifetimes. You will never know another moment of joy or pleasure or peace. For a thousand years you will suffer, unable to obtain a breath of relief. Then, and only then, will you understand what horrors you have created. Yes, justice after all. Tit for tat. For every woman you traumatized, for every woman you ruined, for every moment they spent crying or terrified or ashamed or in untold, silent agony, you will spend the same amount of time in the same amount of agony. Collectively. With the scores of women you’ve hurt in the past twenty-five years—multiply each of those with their lifetime of trauma, with their struggle and hatred of themselves—that’s your future, Roderick. Pain. Anguish. Unlike them, however, you will not be able to take your own life to end the torment. You must endure, like you’ve made so many others endure.”
I gathered the lock of hair needed for his poppet, then I settled between his legs, ready for my meal. Jeffries wept. Puling and coughing and sputtering.
“Admit it, Roderick. Admit the endless pain you’ve caused, and I shall be merciful. For a repentant man deserves some mercy. Admit the violations. The manipulations. The cruelty. Admit it, and your sentence will become lighter.”
“Why are you doing this to me?” he cried. “I’ve done nothing wrong. I loved those women. Every one of them. It’s not my fault they got hurt. It’s not my fault they couldn’t be responsible for themselves.”
“Even facing an eternity of hell, you will not take responsibility for your part. So be it.”
“You’re pathetic,” Avalon said, his blood dripping down her chin. “I heard you, you know. In the street that day when that poor woman came up for any sign of kindness from you. Any sign of humanity, but you shamed her further. Then you whispered something to her, and I heard it. I know of your guilt as well, Jeffries. You deserve everything coming to you, just for her alone. Then, to hear about all the others. Beyond shameful. Beyond evil.”
I settled between his
legs, ready for my supper. “It’s barely an appetizer, really,” I said looking down, “Let alone a meal. Diseased as it is and all as well. Yes, so underwhelming. Quite amazing you caused so much pain and suffering, let alone pleasure, with such a small thing. How violent you had to be to get me to choke on such a tiny morsel. Now it’s your turn to choke on it, Jeffries. Watch in horror and say goodbye to your precious pet, forever.”
“No! Please!”
I took as much pleasure in his fear as he had taken in mine. More so, knowing his fear was quite justified. Whereas I normally made this part of the ritual rather quick, with this one, I would take my time.
“Please. No,” he whimpered.
“Enough talk.” I sewed his mouth shut, as I had done the others whipping my fingers through the air, taking from him even the ability to express his agony. He wouldn’t even have that much relief from his pain. With the suffering this one had caused, he would suffer a millennium. At least.
Holding my hands above the flaccid phallus, hovering over it, I channeled my will and absorbed its power—his power—consuming him. As his prowess and skill and desire flowed from his body to mine, it shrunk even more, shriveling up into a dry, twisted twig before crumbling into nothing, leaving just black, oozing puss behind. Simultaneously, as I absorbed the energy, the black bile from below filled his throat.
“Choke on it, the way you made me choke, Roderick. The way you made so many others. And now,” I said, after he swallowed to avoid suffocation, “the real punishment begins.”
As I fed off the sexual energy I drained from him, gathering enough strength to finish the ritual and move on to the next, he wailed and screamed through his sealed lips, eyes bulging at the horror of his shriveled member and the muck filling his throat. Yes, horror. Pain. Fear. Exactly what he deserved. He coughed and sputtered, bile oozed from between the stitches, loosening them. “Kill me,” he managed through the stitching. “Please, just kill me.”
“Yes. Beg for your life, you demon. Beg. I want to hear you beg the way you’ve made so many others beg for kindness, for mercy.”
“Please,” he whimpered.
“No.” With a flourish of my arms, I tightened the stitches once again, altogether weary of his squeaky voice. “Now your heart,” I said, and in a motion that would be too quick for a human to register, I thrust my hand into his chest, pulling out his still-beating heart. Then, it shrunk in my hand until it was compact and black, its true form. Positioning my free hand over the hole in his chest, I initiated his final transformation, turning the inside into the outside. In cries of such deep despair, of such pure agony as if the sounds came from the very empty core of his being, he transformed, shrinking into a hideous creature. An angry grimace frozen forever on its odious face, mouth open just enough to see the hollow interior. A forked tongue curled over its lips, lapping at nothing. Angry slits for eyes and legs spread to allow for the mighty erection, but, of course, that vital part was now missing. His weapon of choice forever disabled.
“Well, that’s done,” I said, turning to Avalon while I affixed the black heart onto the poppet, fusing it with the white yarn one already sewn in place.
“He’ll remain thus? Forever?”
“Well, until his heart turns white again. In this one’s case, I estimate about a millennium, like I said. He has done much damage.”
Avalon took the poppet and examined it. “He’s in here?”
“No, he’s in there, as much as he’s anywhere,” I said, pointing to the grotesque statue. “The hair and blood inside the doll, not to mention the heart, keeps it attached to the consciousness inside the statue, enabling me control of his pain or mercy wherever I go. The statue stays here or goes wherever. Doesn’t matter. Just an outward representation of what his true self on the inside. So often their handsome exterior hides just a repulsive interior. I think they hide it from themselves as well.”
“So, he was a demon?”
“Not at all, Ava. That would explain so much, though, wouldn’t it? He was human, all right. Remember, humans, not monsters, have perfected the ability to deceive and destroy. Monsters can’t help but be monsters. Humans have a choice. His actions, his choices, made him the monster. The way he used his gifts and free will to betray and manipulate and shatter lives, that’s what made him monstrous. He had the choice to change and repent at any time. I even gave him the chance again, at the very end. They rarely take it. Even facing torture, they won’t take responsibility for what they’ve done. Few ever do, and it would take decades off their sentence, at least, if they but just admitted it. More if they apologized and meant it, if they took responsibility.”
A sad expression crossed Avalon’s face. “So much pain. They do deserve it—I can see that—but so very much pain. Now at least his pain will be contained to just him. He’ll hurt no one else.” A tear slid down her cheek.
“Indeed. I have one more to go, then I shall be leaving London for a while. Work calls me elsewhere. I never want for work, unfortunately.”
“One more? Can I come, too?” she said, wiping the tear away. “This was fascinating, albeit gruesome.”
“You can come with me wherever you wish, Avalon, my beauty. We would make quite the team, and we would only use men as they use us, never trust them again. Feed from them, punish them, protect others from ending up like us.”
“Who is this last one? Is he as vile as this one was?”
“More so. Every bit as bad, only he’s had centuries to perfect his ruse, as you well know.” The light brown hair assembled on top of my head brightened to a brilliant red, and the recognition dawned on Avalon’s face.
“Oh my,” she said.
“You know it must be done,” I said. “Tomorrow night, just as the clock chimes midnight, I think. You are quite welcome to watch, my dear. I have no doubt it will be most cathartic for you.”
A bizarre sound came from the bed, a groaning of sorts. Then, laughter, causing us both to turn around to see what made the noise.
“Is that supposed to happen?” Avalon asked, pointing to the statue which had started to squirm. Arms flapping and forked tongue thrashing to and fro.
“No. It’s not.”
Before I could even get back to the bed, the thing began to grow, laughing and thrusting its forked tongue about. The sound of skin stretching, ripping, morphing, along with the putrid smell of hell filled the room.
Avalon grabbed my hand, and I was all too happy to take it for comfort myself. With disgust, we watched, unable to move out of fear, as the thing grew back into the form of Roderick Jeffries, except for its face, which remained heinous. Instead of hair, long phallic snakes twisted their mushroom heads around the demon’s head. Its hollowed cheeks, still cracked like stone. Its laughter thumped in my ears, chilling my spine. Forked tongue slithering, it looked down at its chest and closed the hole over the demon’s own black heart which had filled the empty cavity. Next, with a roar of triumph, it regrew its penis, but the atrocious thing that emerged from between the monster’s legs was huge and scaly and blue, barbs poking out from the bottom ridge. Erect, it curved halfway up the fiend’s torso.
“All right,” I whispered. “Maybe this one is a demon after all.”
“Thank you for getting rid of that pathetic little thing, by the way,” it hissed. “It did the job well enough, after all, but this will do so much more damage. How delicious.” It stroked the length of its enormous blue shaft and moaned, sending chills throughout my body
I took a protective stance in front of Avalon, but the thing just laughed again, its face becoming more human by the second. Before long, I was looking at Roderick Jeffries’ handsome features again. Except for the blue erection, he looked human.
“But—how?” I sputtered. “You’re not human?”
“I’m very human, of course, you wretched bitch, and I’ve taken my delights with women for the past fifteen years. Fucking and raping and devouring them as I chose, honing my skills in pleasure and in manipulation
and pain. I suppose my choices in life attracted my little friend inside. Since I wasn’t burdened with a soul, I had plenty of room. He found my lifestyle so irresistible, he had to join in the fun, and we have had so much fun together, too. So very much. He’s shown me wickedness and pleasure I couldn’t have dreamt of before. He had his suspicions about you, and he was right. You won the bet, old friend. You get to choose the next one. How about one of these lovely ladies here, or, both? Do you think they can handle all of this?” He grabbed the blue monstrosity with both hands and stroked it up and down with long lascivious motions, twisting his hands back and forth. Tongue, still forked, licked his lips around and around.
“Leave her out of this, Jeffries. Just let her go. Take me,” I said, knowing I could endure any sort of atrocity the thing could inflict upon me without further damage. Well, lasting damage anyway. Although the assault itself, however long it lasted, and I suspect he’d make it last, would be as harrowing for me as for any woman, after it was over, I’d suffer no further trauma. Any memory of it would just be a memory, without emotional attachment.
It was one of the gifts of my power.
“No?” Jeffries said, but I got the impression he wasn’t talking to us. “Her? Are you sure? Well, all right. Like I said, dear boy, it’s your choice. It’ll split her little body in two, but no matter. I’ve had my fill of her anyway. Rather bored with her cackling and whimpering.” He bowed a brief goodbye. “Ladies.” Ripping the sheet off the bed, he wrapped himself in it and jumped out the window to the alley below, hooting and crowing like a madman as he ran down the darkened alley out of sight.
“We’ve got a problem,” I said to Avalon.
CHAPTER TWENTY
ARTHUR
Deja-vu.
Again.
Wasn’t I just here not so long ago? Standing outside Avalon’s, hoping she’d speak to me. Seems so.