by Alexie Aaron
Before them was a square where people stood with their backs to the travelers. Mia and Murphy dropped their hands and took up battle stances as they moved closer. The people had form but no color other than the deep black of space. They wore clothing, but the color seemed to have been burned out, as did any hue that was once skin. Black on black on black. It made it difficult to see them as anything but 3D cutouts, except their chests rose and fell as if they, like Mia, were breathing.
Mia ventured closer, looking at the crowd who were so intently staring at something beyond her and Murphy’s line of vision. Men, women and children stood looking out into the blackness.
Mia started walking around the outside of the gathering. Murphy stopped and grabbed her before she placed another foot forward. To do so would have plunged her into the abyss that the others stared into. No light came from the pit. But there was noise. It was a scratching, scraping sound. Murmurs of voices, just at the edge of hearing, drifted up from the blackness.
Mia sensed someone looking at her. She turned her head to see a charcoal husk of a man, his eyes liquid ink. “Come, they will be upon us soon,” the man said, offering Mia his arm.
She quickly looked at Murphy, who nodded his head, before she slid her gloved hand through the crook of the man’s arm. He was warm with the heat of life. He walked quickly, following the dispersing crowd. They moved in small groups to the houses and disappeared behind the blackened doors. Mia clung to the man as his speed increased. Murphy followed them to a large home.
The door was opened by a servant dressed in black. Until they crossed the threshold, Mia had assumed that they would be plunged into total darkness. But once the door was shut, color and light returned to this world.
Mia and Murphy found themselves in the entrance hall of a prosperous family home. The warm wood of the polished floor reflected the rich floral wallpaper of the walls. Mia looked up at her host and saw a man of forty years. His black hair set off a kind face sporting a trimmed mustache and beard. He wore a black jacket and vest over light grey pants. He had on a white shirt with a soft bow tie that fell softly from the starched collar. His eyes were green, his skin pale but soft, and if Mia didn’t know better, she would have sworn that he was alive.
“My name is Mia Martin. This is my associate Stephen Murphy. We’ve come to help you.”
He studied her a moment before speaking, “Herbert Morrison. I fear, young woman, you’ve come too late for us. We’ve been sent to this hell of our own making.”
~
Ted stood nervously in the hall. He had stripped down to his boxers and was well aware that the coolness of the large room did nothing to accentuate his manhood. Orion was due to arrive and had instructed Audrey to explain why Ted had to travel naked.
“In either vault, you must bring nothing with you. In the vault the birdmen control, you must atone for your sins. You cannot even bring sin into that vault. The Dark Vault guardians demand the same consideration. They, however, provide the visitor a robe. The gargoyles find the human body repulsive,” Audrey said, repeating Orion’s words.
Cid had drawn the short straw and stood there waiting with Ted. The last thing he wanted to witness was a naked Orion wrapping his arms and wings around a nude Ted. Orion was given the name tripod for his large genitalia. The man was small, but his sex organs were not.
“He’s such a little guy. How will he carry you?” Cid asked.
“I expect, like Mia, he will rise to the occasion…” Ted winced.
“You better hope he doesn’t rise because…”
“Stop!” Ted demanded. “I’m trying desperately to focus on why I’m going to a place where I may not return from. They’re into collecting specimens, Cid.”
Cid looked at his shivering friend and shook his head. “You’re not the best representation of a human male, so don’t worry.”
Ted turned red.
Before Ted could hurl some abuse Cid’s way, the air crackled around him. Orion appeared. He had already sized himself to be about eight feet tall. He chose the wings of an Andean condor.
Ted dropped his boxers, walked over, and turned around, putting his back to the birdman.
Orion nodded to Cid before he wrapped his arms around Ted and then his wings around both of them and vanished.
Cid was left with two thoughts. One, Audrey was a lucky lady, and two, he wished he had brought tongs to pick up Ted’s underwear with.
~
Mia, sensing they weren’t in immediate danger, slid the backpack off her shoulder. She asked, “May I?” before she reached out and touched the sleeve of Herbert Morrison. She explained, “I was caught up in a similar dimensional hell courtesy of Renee Roustan. You’re breathing. Are you still alive? Or are you a manifestation of this dark dimension?”
Morrison reached into his pocket and pulled out a gentleman’s knife. He opened it and sliced his palm. It bled. “We came in alive, but I expect we will leave it as spirits,” he said.
Mia took off her glove and touched the blood. She moved the sample between her thumb and fingers. She looked over at Murphy and said, “This is the blood of a living entity. Mr. Morrison, I can read your mind from this drop. May I share it with my associate?”
“Please,” he said, taking a handkerchief out of his pocket and using it to apply pressure to clot the flow.
“Herbert is married to a beautiful woman named Naomi. She developed a hypersexual disorder - some would label it as nymphomania. She got to the point of not being able to control herself in public. Mr. Morrison sought out the help of Dr. Rose. He advised she should receive in-house treatment.”
“I was not allowed to visit her. When I demanded to see her…” his voice failed him.
“Naomi was one of the early victims of Dr. Rose’s experimentation,” Mia continued. “Herbert found her chained in the basement. She didn’t know who he was anymore. When he released her to take her home, she attacked him, used him, and left him lying on the floor. He managed to get up and follow the trail of used and spent attendants to the third floor. He saw her at the end of the hall, and he ran after her. He ended up here.”
Herbert cleared his voice and spoke, “She came in with a mild sexual disorder, and Dr. Rose turned her into what I understand is a succubus. I also understand I was lucky to be alive. She normally chokes the life out of her prey after she uses them.” Herbert shook his head. “I followed her to the abyss, and there I found other people, families, staring off into the darkness, waiting for their loved ones to return. The first night I was here, it was horrible. The monsters used us most horribly, some people were eaten alive. But in the morning, I found myself here. I ran out expecting to see the carnage, but all I found were the same people waiting to be devoured and used again.”
“Why?” Mia asked.
“I think we all thought we were in hell. We were being punished for leaving our loved ones with Dr. Rose. It wasn’t until Dr. Rose himself was trapped here that we figured out that we didn’t need to put ourselves in the way of the monsters our kinfolk had become. Yes, we were guilty of leaving them here, instead of staying with them or insisting they be treated in the security of our homes, but we didn’t need to suffer abusive deaths over and over again. No, Mia, I may seem full of life, but I assure you, it’s something else.”
“The houses, how were they brought here?” Murphy asked, running his hand along the rich wood of the newel post.
“I think we victims built them with our reminiscences. This world is full of energy. Inside, we can live in the memories of a better time. Out there, there is no life, no color, no hope. Come, I have chronicled it all.”
Mia and Murphy followed him down a corridor and into a bookshelf-lined room, Mia assumed was a library.
Morrison picked up a small book from his desk. “I brought this in with me. I hope it will make the transition out. Take this back with you. Warn others. The monsters are getting bolder every cycle. Soon they will stop scratching on our doors and seek out your world.”
“We will leave in the morning.”
“No, you must leave before this cycle ends or I fear you will become part of the fabric of this place forever. If you want to save our souls and the world, then you must leave now. I will try to draw them away.”
Mia didn’t want to admit that they didn’t know the way out. Nor did she want this man to face the horrors of the monsters on their behalf. She took off the chain that held the velvet pouch.
“Murphy, step into me,” she asked.
Herbert watched as the ghost walked into the petite woman’s body. “Mr. Morrison, I am coming back with help,” she said as she put his book into her backpack. “If you and the others are dead, I will bring you to the light or it to you. I’ve been in purgatory; it’s so much nicer than this. This is something else. Let the others know to be prepared. When we come back, those who want to leave must be prepared to act quickly, or they will be sealed in here with the monsters forever,” she warned. Mia drew off her glove, opened the bag, and poured the charm into her hand. “Take me and Murphy to Quentin,” she said and disappeared.
Curly picked up a tiny flash of light coming from the hatch. It pulsed once and then sped by him heading for the stairs. The other cameras caught a shimmer as the charm took Mia out of the mansion and into the dark snowy night.
Mia found herself once again on the doorstep of her uncle’s mansion. She placed the charm back into the bag and tucked the necklace into her vest. Instead of disturbing the household, she pulled out a blank piece of paper from Morrison’s book. She penned a quick note and attached it to the brass knocker. She then reached out and drew a heart in the frost on the glass window of the entry door. Inside, she put her initials. Mia then released her wings, picked up the backpack with her hands, and flew off, quickly heading for Roustan Rose.
~
Once more, Ted had to endure the prodding of the gargoyle’s fingers on his nose.
“I have never ssseen a nose thisss large. What isss itsss function?” the beast asked Ted.
“It’s a nose. I breathe through it,” Ted explained for the tenth time.
The beast before him had the long snout of a wolf with a small triangular gray nose with circular nostrils. His black lips drew back, displaying the teeth of a timber wolf on steroids. The gargoyle’s tongue was long, making his words arrive with a lisp. “If it wasss made of bone, it would rival a dragon’sss ssspike.”
“It is rather inefficient,” Orion pointed out to Ted’s annoyance. “Why use cartilage when hard bone would be better?”
“They kissss the femalesss. It needsss to bend,” the gargoyle reasoned. “Can I have him?”
“No. We need his big brain. He’s the mate of Mia Cooper Martin,” Orion said, pulling Ted’s robe away to display the tattoo.
The gargoyle drew back as if Ted suddenly became radioactive. “A thousssand pardonsss, sssir.”
Ted nodded curtly. Inside, he questioned himself why the gargoyle would react in such a way. His wife did kill a dragon, but surely this wouldn’t have bothered the gargoyle. Gargoyles can be broken in their stone state, but they never can be killed. They were given the task of warding off evil and, in some cases, moving water away from the eaves of buildings. But in the form before him, nothing on earth could kill them. Orion mentioned it was fortunate that they could not mate or the world would be overrun by them.
The door opened and a winged being hobbled over to them. His pupils were indented, causing him to be severely farsighted. An Italian pince-nez provided the creature the needed help in seeing the documents he had before him. “We have agreed to let you view the Thorn journal and papers. The Dark Vault is dangerous. Orion, you have been here before. Guide him through it. We wouldn’t want the mate of Mia Cooper Martin to be harmed by what is contained within.”
“Excuse me, your honor,” Ted said, not knowing the proper way to address the creature.
The title seemed to please him, and he nodded for him to continue.
“How do you know my wife?”
“The demon court has determined her to be honorable. If she has bonded with you, then you are honorable too.”
Ted accepted the explanation. Mia’s gamble on presenting her crimes before the court and accepting the restitution had almost crippled her for life, but also, it had increased the esteem of the demon class. The fact that she had later exorcised the demon out of her was a carefully guarded secret. Right now, Mia Cooper Martin’s stock was up, and both sides of the balance were happy.
He followed Orion into the vault. The air was cold and held a scent that he couldn’t quite define. He filed the question to ask the birdman later. They passed two groups of beings crowed around tables intent on their tasks. Orion slowed his steps. Ted caught on that he was eavesdropping on whatever was going on there. Orion smiled and picked up his pace. He stopped before a set of steps.
“We have to leave this level. Please watch your head. Your height is a disadvantage here. Do not, I repeat, do not touch the walls or ceiling of this staircase.”
Ted didn’t ask why. He knew time was at a premium. He needed to get to the Thorn papers as soon as he could. Mia and Murphy were presently navigating the monsters’ dimension. Orion stopped at the bottom of the staircase. He seemed puzzled by which direction to go in. He closed his eyes and let his head fall backwards. He seemed to be communicating with someone or something. There was a scraping of stone on stone to their right. Orion opened his eyes and stepped back up on the last step. Ted was about to follow suit when a large naked man chained to a boulder that he was pulling behind him entered the stairwell.
He stopped and stared at Ted and then at Orion. “Are you looking for the labs?” he asked, his voice soft as butter.
“Yes,” Ted said. “We’re here to examine the Thorn papers.”
“This way, mind the rock.”
Ted and Orion followed him to the left. The man left them in a well-lit room.
“That was Sisyphus,” Orion said offhandedly.
Ted was about to disagree when Orion cut him off, “Don’t believe everything you read, Theodore. Trust your eyes and instincts.”
Ted was puzzled by whether Orion was talking about the myth of Sisyphus or the material they were about to examine, so he kept mute and simply nodded.
~
Mia landed in the deep snow in the middle of the back garden. Murphy moved out of her and into the house. Mia trudged through the snow. The door opened, and Cid rushed out with a blanket and scooped her up, wrapping her in the blanket and carrying her in.
“Thanks, Superman,” Mia said. “I misjudged the depth of the snow.”
“Murphy is bringing the guys down from the third story.”
“How long were we gone?”
“A little over an hour,” he replied. “Ted left soon after you did. I’m supposed to text him that you’re safe.”
He set her down. Mia pulled off her wet boots. She rushed into the kitchen in her stocking feet. “Audrey, I have some information for you!” She dumped the backpack on the table and opened it to find the journal safe and sound. “This is from Herbert Morrison. He hopes his words will help us.”
Audrey felt the weight of the book and let the book naturally fall open. “The writing is from a quill, and I believe the ink is… blood.”
Mia looked at her friend’s green face. “There weren’t any Office Depots around. He did the best he could.”
“Mia, how the hell did you get from inside this house to the outside?” Burt asked, walking into the kitchen. He set the camera down and wiped his sweaty forehead.
“I used the charm Quentin gave me,” Mia said. “I counted on that his magic was stronger than the science Thorn used to seal Thornrose. It was a gamble but worth the risk. The only other way was to fight our way to the subbasement, not knowing if it was indeed the exit or whether there ever was one or not.”
“Curly picked up a flash of light from the hatch ten minutes ago,” Cid said from the doorway. “The hall ca
meras picked up said light heading for the door. I had a feeling that it was you and Murph.”
“It seems that you guys are right; the hatch is the exit,” Mia said. “It made sense that Thorn would have given himself a way to enter and exit the world he created.”
Mike was on the phone as he joined the group. “Yes, Ma, she’s fine. Looks like a wet rat.”
Mia walked over to the pile of PEEPs gear that Ted had left on the counter and selected the smallest of the clothing and started walking to the bathroom to change.
Audrey stared at the open book and then at Burt. “This is the most horrible book I’ve ever held.”
“She’s upset because it’s written in the author’s own blood,” Cid explained.
“No, Cid, it’s the contents. It’s all about monsters, real monsters!” she exclaimed.
“Maybe I should read it,” Burt said, gently taking the book from her.
Audrey sat down and put her head in her hands. “They ate their own children…”
“Cid, I think she’s in shock,” Burt said.
Mia dropped her clothes and ran over to Audrey.
“I forgot how empathic you are. Audrey, you’ve always been strong for me,” Mia said, hugging the investigator. Audrey took a deep breath and lost some of the green in her complexion. Mia turned to Burt. “That book isn’t for the tender-hearted. You or I will have to read it.”
Mia walked her friend to the table, had her sit down, and stroked her back.
“When did you get so strong?” Mike asked behind her.
Mia turned around and said, “You’d be surprised how fast you mature at the end of a lash,” she said. She shook off the memory. “I’d like to tell you all what happened to Murph and me as soon as Audrey calms down. Any news from Ted? Brian?”
“Just that Orion and he arrived,” Cid said. “Ralph checked in, and Brian is sleeping soundly. Brian managed to con Bernard into reading four books before bedtime.”