The Nightmare Game

by Martin, S. Suzanne

  “Except the Sisters. Don’t forget, they’re completely dead.” Geoffrey answered for me. “So sorry, old boy.”

  “Illea, too?” he asked again, not trusting Geoffrey’s answer.

  I didn’t know how to answer him. “She was alive when I saw her last, but she had been deformed, Ben. Horribly.”

  “You mean like Timothy and Robert and the sisters?”

  I nodded my head sadly. “Yes. In a different way, but yes.”

  Tears welled up in his eyes. “But why, Ashley? Why would anybody want to hurt Illea? She’s such a good person, such a sweet person. She’s never hurt a soul in her entire life.”

  I pointed to the winged dragon at my neck. “It’s all about this, Ben. She” I said, shifting my gaze to Arrosha, “wants it and she’ll hurt anybody that gets caught in the middle, whether they’ve done anything to deserve it or not.”

  “Is it true that you stole it from her?”

  “No, Ben, I didn’t steal it. Somebody gave it to me.”

  “You should know, Ben,” Arrosha interjected firmly. “that the people who ‘gave’ her the amulet were those that stole it from me in the first place.”

  “Then you should give it back, Ashley. After all, if it rightfully belongs to Arrosha, that’s the only decent thing to do.”

  “It doesn’t rightfully belong to her, Ben. She wants it because it’s the only thing that threatens her immortality. It’s not hers at all. Why do you think that she’s standing all the way over there? Why do you think that I’m still alive and haven’t been turned into a monstrosity like the rest of your group? It’s because she can’t hurt me while I’m wearing it. She can’t even come near me while I have it on. It never belonged to her and she mustn’t ever be allowed to have it, Ben, because it’s the only thing that keeps her in check, the only thing that can destroy her.”

  “I still don’t understand,” he said. “Why would anyone want to destroy a goddess?”

  “She’s not a goddess, Ben, she never was. She’s nothing but an evil entity that feeds off of other people’s life forces. She’s nothing but an energy vampire, a succubus.”

  “Enough of your blasphemy, woman!” Arrosha shouted, enraged again. “Ben, convince her to take off that necklace and hand it over to Geoffrey. That’s what you’re here for. It’s the only reason that I haven’t killed you yet. Convince her and the two of you live. I’ll even throw Illea and the others into the bargain. Fail to do so and you all die.”

  “Ashley,” Ben said, “You’d better give her what she wants. You know, live to fight another day and all that. Plus, Illea’s life is at stake. You’ve got to save her. She’s like my little sister, Ashley.”

  “I know that Ben. I wish there was another way but my answer has to be no. When I say that this necklace is the only thing that can stop Arrosha, I mean it. If it gets into her possession, she’ll be able to get real power, rule nations, take over the world. I don’t want to be the one responsible for that. Do you? I mean, look at her, Ben. Look at what she’s done to your friends. She’s crazy.”

  “But if you don’t, she’s going to kill us and kill Illea. And then she’ll just have Geoffrey walk over to your dead body and take it off of you anyway.”

  “No, she can’t. I have to hand it over voluntarily for Geoffrey to be able to take it for her. If she kills me or if she tortures me into it, it disappears back into its box and she doesn’t know where that is. I don’t know where that is either, so there’s no way she can get that out of me.”

  “Is it really that important, Ashley, that you’d let her kill us all instead?”

  “It really is that important. I’m sorry, Ben.”

  He turned to Arrosha and said, “Arrosha, I can’t talk her into giving you the amulet. I’m sorry, but after what you did to the others, after I’ve seen what you’re really like, well, if it were up to me, I wouldn’t give it to you either.”

  “So that’s it? Oh, Ben, you disappoint me. And you, Ashley?”

  “My answer’s still no.” I knew I was doing the right thing and I had no other real choice, but these words were still the hardest words I’d ever had to say.

  Arrosha sighed arrogantly. “I have to say, Ben, that I really didn’t expect for you to come through for me. You always did have such a hang-up about doing the ‘good’ and ‘decent’ and ‘honorable’ thing. Honestly, sometimes it was hard for me to keep my lunch down around you. It was worth a shot, though. But I do have something for you. Don’t think that your work here today will go unrewarded.”

  She beckoned Ben and he walked toward her.

  “Ben, do you remember when we first met, when you were dying in that horrible little small town hospital bed, so old, so frail, so sick and so lonely?”

  “Yes, Arrosha, of course. How could I ever forget?”

  “When you looked up at me, what did you think?”

  “That you were an angel sent to be with me in my last moments, an angel sent to take me home.”

  “Yes, and what else?”

  “That you were the most beautiful sight that I had ever seen in my entire life.”

  “Yes, yes, that’s what I was going for. And do you remember how I leaned over you to change you, to save your life, to make you beautiful. Do you remember how I looked into your eyes and stroked your forehead?”

  “I’ll never forget that, Arrosha.”

  “Would you like to know what I was thinking then?”

  “Yes I would. Very much.”

  “Well, Ben, I was thinking about what a hideously ugly little man you were and how much you repulsed me.

  “Arrosha, I – I’m sorry.” Tears had welled up in Ben’s eyes.

  “And it wasn’t just that you were ugly to look at, Ben, you were hideous to the touch. Your skin was so clammy and damp. And your odor! The stench of dying that came out of you was so strong that it clung to the entire room. You disgusted me.”

  Ben was quiet now. He just hung his head as big tears rolled down his cheeks.

  “You were always ugly, though, weren’t you, Ben? I mean, if you hadn’t been, Geoffrey might not have ever left you. How he could have stood touching you, kissing you, lying with you, even for your money, is beyond me.”

  Again, Ben only stood there, quietly weeping. Geoffrey, on the other hand, was making mocking facial expressions and nodding his head in silent, sarcastic agreement with Arrosha’s words.

  “Of course, I’ve found that Geoffrey can do just about anything if the price is right, because Geoffrey is nothing more than a little whore,” she continued.

  “Hey, now!” Geoffrey balked until Arrosha shot an evil look his way. Geoff then said nothing more.

  “He’ll take any harbor in a storm, Ben,” she continued. “And that’s all you were, a safe harbor. He was sick, in trouble with the law and out of money when he stumbled into you, a sad, lonely, desperate old homosexual denying who he was and starved for love. What an easy target you must have been, Ben. And you had a bank account to boot. You never looked into his background. If you had, you’d have realized that he was wanted for a slew of petty and not-so-petty crimes, that he needed a place to hide out until things cooled off for him. You would have known that his was an assumed name. You never even bothered to find out what Geoffrey’s real name was, did you?”

  “No,” Ben answered, pain in his voice.

  “What did you do when you met Geoffrey, Ben? Tell me, what did you do?”

  “I couldn’t help it. I loved him. I trusted him.” Ben said, his voice cracking.

  “Yes, you trusted him, fool that you are. You gave and you gave and you gave until you had nothing left. He rewarded you with almost a full year of his ‘love’, didn’t he? Until that fateful Saturday morning when you awoke to find him packing to leave you. You racked your brain wondering what you had done wrong that made him leave, not able to believe his explanation until you found out on Monday morning that your bank accounts were overdrawn and you no longer had a penny to your name. />
  “But good, old, solid, dependable Ben. You still loved that snake so much that you just took some sick time off until you had none left and they threatened to fire you. You just quietly went back to work after that. So there’d be no more questions, you told those very few souls that bothered to ask that the two of you had just broken up, that it was one of those things. You just resumed your little life, or tried to anyway, didn’t you, Ben? You went back even deeper into the shell from which you’d so briefly emerged, put your nose even more deeply into your books and your work and tried to carry on. Then you started feeling bad, then you started being so tired that there were some mornings at first, more and more as time went on, that you couldn’t even get out of bed. You just told yourself that you were heartsick, depressed over Geoffrey’s leaving you. You were so brokenhearted over that little rat over there that it never occurred to you that you were truly ill, that your beloved Geoffrey had given you a case of AIDs, until it was too late and you found yourself dying in that hospital bed where I found you, gave you back your life and made you young again and more beautiful and more handsome than you ever could have imagined. And what did you do then, Ben, after I did all of that and brought you to my plantation to live? Do you remember?”

  “Yes,” said Ben feebly, no looking up.

  “You sat there amidst luxury and splendor, pining away for your betrayer, Geoffrey. You pestered me and pestered me to find him, to bring him to you to live at my mansion. You were so young and beautiful by then, Ben, you could have had anyone you wanted, and yet all you wanted was that lying cheat so far below your station. After all that he had done to you, you were willing to take him back as if nothing had happened.” Arrosha shook her head. “Ben, how can someone as intelligent as you are be such an emotional simpleton? I have to say that Geoffrey did play the good boy for many, many years, though, didn’t he? But it didn’t say that way, did it? In his soul, he’s a betrayer, Ben. He’s betrayed you again and now he’s betrayed me as well.”

  “I did not, Arrosha! I was faithful to you always. I swear it!” Geoffrey shouted out indignantly. Arrosha ignored him as if he had said nothing, keeping her focus upon Ben.

  “And for bringing him into the group, Ben, you must be punished. Out of everyone in the group, you’re the one it pains me most to have to punish. You were always such a true and loyal servant. I was so hoping it wouldn’t have to come to this, that you would be able to convince Ashley to hand over the amulet willingly, that I would be able to reward you with the riches that you do, truly, deserve. But you’ve failed me, Ben, so I must punish you instead.”

  “You’re going to kill me, aren’t you, Arrosha?” Ben said quietly. Arrosha’s brutal assessment had taken the spirit out of him.

  “Oh, yes, Ben, I am. But not just yet. You’ll have to suffer first. Don’t worry about death. When I finally do kill you, you will welcome it.

  “But what to do with you before then, that’s the question.” She paced back and forth for awhile, thinking, and then she stopped. “Ah, yes, I know. I have the perfect thing. How is it that you referred to yourself in your previous life? A real gargoyle, wasn’t it? Well, then, that’s it, Ben. That’s perfect. I will turn you into a real gargoyle.”

  “No! Please, no!” cried Ben.

  But his plea fell on deaf ears. Arrosha motioned with her hand and Ben’s cries stopped as he started to change instantly. His body thickened and began to stoop. His head, his hands and his feet grew larger. His clothes seemed to melt off of him as he hunched over more and more, no longer capable of standing upright. His fingernails and toenails became thick, curved claws as his ears grew huge and pointed. His once handsome face became unrecognizable as his eyebrows grew thick, his nose grew large, bulbous and pointed, and his lips all but disappeared into a mouth more ape than human. As he went to lick his lips, a huge, thick tongue, far too long, flicked out, froglike, over sharp, pointed teeth. His skin grew thick as well, now the color and texture of dark grey stone and lastly, a set of leathery batlike wings emerged from his shoulder blades, growing rapidly until they were larger than the rest of his body.

  Geoffrey began to giggle meanly again. “Nice wingspan, Ben. And that tongue! The boys are really gonna like you now!”

  His giggling turned into full laughter as Ben staggered around the room as best he could, unaccustomed to his unnatural body. He flapped his new wings clumsily, losing his balance repeatedly in the act.

  “Real graceful, Ben.” Geoffrey continued to taunt him. “You’re a regular Fred Astaire now, old boy. Or, in your case, maybe Ginger Rogers would be more apropos.”

  But it didn’t take long for Ben to get used to his wings. In minutes he was up in the air, croaking “Help me, help me!”

  Geoffrey rolled his eyes again, as if he were bored. “They are so pathetic once you change them, Arrosha.” He said. Then, mocking Ben, he began walking clumsily around the room, flapping his arms like wings. “All they seem to be able to say is ‘help me’. What a limited vocabulary!”

  Arrosha shut him up quickly. “This isn’t about your amusement, Geoffrey. And Ben, you’re annoying me. Quit fluttering about the room and go sit out on the ledge. You’re a gargoyle now. Start acting like one.”

  Ben obeyed her immediately and did as he was told. I had the feeling that once a person was mutated they were at the mercy of Arrosha’s will.

  “And now, Geoffrey,” she said, turning to him. “We come to you. It’s time for your reward, time for you to get what you so richly deserve.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

  Geoffrey beamed, quite proud of himself, excited because he was convinced his reward was going to be something fabulous.

  “Yes, Arrosha, my Goddess, my Queen.” he said excitedly.

  “Geoffrey, you remember that job I told you to do? Tell me, did you do it? I mean, did you do it as I instructed?”

  “Oh, yes, Arrosha. I did that job and more.” He swelled with pride as he said this. At the same time he looked at me with contempt, lording his answer over me.

  “Did I ask you to do more, Geoffrey?” she said.

  “No, my Goddess. But when I met her,” he said, looking at me distastefully, “well, let me just say that I didn’t like her from the very beginning. I thought it would be best for you if I exposed her to the entire group for what she really was.”

  “You thought it would be best? Tell me, Geoffrey, did I ever tell you to think?”

  “Why, why no, Arrosha,” Geoffrey’s mood began to deflate and he began to stammer, aware for the very first time that Arrosha might not be completely happy with him.

  “No, Geoffrey, I didn’t. I asked you to be watchful of what was going on and to report everything to me so that I didn’t need to expend my energies actually at the mansion, hiding in the eaves, listening in twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. That’s skulking, Geoffrey and I do not skulk.”

  “Of course not, my Queen. That would be beneath you.”

  “Yes, Geoffrey, it most certainly would be beneath me. That’s why I needed you to be my eyes and ears and that’s all I needed you to do.”

  “But Arrosha, if I hadn’t intervened, Ashley would have infiltrated our group, gotten off scott-free.”

  “That’s what I was counting on, you idiot!”

  “I don’t understand, Arrosha.” He said, now cowering.

  “You weren’t supposed to understand, Geoffrey! You were supposed to watch and listen and that’s all! It was you job, your only job, and you screwed it up royally!”

  Geoff now said nothing. He was starting to perspire profusely.

  “You see, dear Geoffrey, the last group I had, my followers before Ben, were corrupted by what Edmond calls his ‘champion’. Because he wouldn’t take the water and the essence, this ‘champion’, Max, managed to sway much of that group away from me.”

  “Max?” he asked, laughing nervously. “Not Max, our manservant? Not our creepy little monkey man?”

  “Yes,” Arrosha said, sm
iling dryly. “That Max. It might amuse you to know that Max was quite handsome back then, in a sort of rough and tumble kind of way. He was the last champion of Edmond’s that made it as far as the mansion. You see, Geoffrey, I didn’t have my little pets, the zombies, back then because I didn’t know how to keep them around. As a result, Max was able to resist the water and the essence. Therefore, he was able to resist the offer I made him. The group was ruined as a result and then I had to start all over from scratch with your group.

  “So now along comes our little Ashley here. An ant to Max’s lion, it surprises me that she has gotten this far. She has but one thing and one thing only going for her that the others didn’t, and that is the strongest psychic bond that my nemesis, Edmond, has ever been able to create with any person before now. It’s an advantage that’s given her more protection than anyone else to date. It’s allowed her to bounce back far too easily from every attack I’ve been able to throw at her.

  “After setting loose my brain-dead little pets upon her, which put her into a position in which we could easily force the water upon her, I figured that she would be a snap to seduce into the group. That being done, she could easily have been talked into surrendering the necklace amulet for our little ‘transformation ceremony’. But still I needed a spy, someone to keep an eye on things and to report her goings on to me on a regular basis.

  “But who to get? I could have asked Ben, but there would have too many questions. I couldn’t trust him because when push came to shove, he would always do the ‘honorable’ thing. I couldn’t use Illea for the same reason. Besides, she was my ace-in-the-hole, my back-up in the off-chance that one of Edmond’s male ‘champions’ made it to the mansion, in which case I would get rid of Ricky and make not only Illea but also the rest of the group forget him. The others were all too new to trust. The men were still in the formative follower stage and would have let the cat out of the bag the first time Ben even came close to asking them what they were doing. And the Sisters! That would have been nothing more than a bad joke!