by Aubrey Law
Sonja grabbed my hand and squeezed. "Is she really gone? Ashley? I don't understand any of this." Normally anyone that touched me without my permission would experience pain and suffering unlike anything they'd ever known. Many fingers were severed and even whole arms had been detached from the people stupid enough to put their hands on me. Sonja was a rare exception and I strangely welcomed her affection. Sexual relations with another woman were unimaginable to me and never part of my plans but I was curiously exploring the new sensations.
I stared at her. "Not completely. I have some of her feelings and memories."
"So you do remember me?" said Sonja. "I know we'd just started spending time together before those priests took us but Ashley was special. We were very close."
"I realize you don't understand but trust me when I say what happened to Ashley is for the best." I bit my tongue and stopped myself from almost apologizing for evicting the soul and possessing the body of her best friend. Ashley's empathy was a part of me for now but my cold Witch’s heart was still black as midnight.
Loud voices echoed within the dungeon and I heard a blend of both human and demon dialects. I'd learned to speak the demon's devilish tongue and even though their language disgusted me it was helpful to understand their words. An enraged group was moving in on our location and they would be upon us within seconds. They must have discovered that I'd already left a pile of bodies scattered around their precious dungeon and it was time to confront whoever was laying waste to their numbers. I listened closely to the unmistakable accent of an Archdemon which meant I wouldn't be able to kill the cockroach with just a snap of my fingers this time.
Once per day I could cast a Death spell which caused my target to die and there wasn't a fucking thing anyone could do about it. I often dreamed of the ability to cast unlimited Death but the ancient unseen forces that governed the realm of Black Magic chose to limit such a devastating spell to a single use within twenty-four hours of time. If the Archdemon proved to be more than I could handle then I wouldn't hesitate to speak Death to him. There were a countless variety of lesser but still fatal spells I could unleash on my enemies but the Archdemons were resistant to lower levels of magic. Hopefully we wouldn't encounter more than a single Arch at any given time.
"All of you stay behind me if you want to live. Do not allow yourselves to be caught between myself and any demons or priests." I attempted to warn the group of seven young women, which included Sonja, but I already knew at least one of them would panic and be killed in the crossfire. The Archdemon was near and I could smell the scent of his unbathed body. Demons were infamous for never washing themselves which resulted in a potent stench that was easily detected from long distances.
"What's happening?" said Sonja. "Are we going to die?"
I shook my head. "You're not. I can't speak for them." My eyes scanned the huddled group of terrified women who'd decided to take my warning seriously and stay far behind me.
The power generator was suddenly shut off in the dungeon and we lost all light within the small room where we were gathered. Cutting the electricity made it clear to me that the priests and their demon allies had no idea who they were dealing with. Even the lowest of Black Witches could still see perfectly in the dark.
CHAPTER THREE
I called them all 'priests' but only a few of them were actually ordained by the Church. The others were basically just hired bodyguards who enjoyed the enormous pay and the opportunities to partake in the Priesthood's perverse lifestyle. The world's finest wine, exotic treasures, and sex slaves of every sort with nothing forbidden behind closed doors. Or in our case, a secret dungeon. I suspected they'd send in their henchmen first and I was right. Simple spells would always work on their simple minds. I whispered the words of Confusion into their ears and they turned around and left the room. Hopefully my minor use of magic didn't alert the Archdemon to the presence of a Black Witch.
Two hideous Hellhounds poked their red-eyed razor-fanged faces into the doorway and sniffed the air. I was concerned for the women because the devil-dogs would skin them alive and slowly gnaw on their delicate bones from dusk until dawn. I didn't know how I'd missed the scent of the hounds but it was probably because the Archdemon's foul body odor overpowered everything else. Sending in the dogs meant the demon was suspicious about what was waiting for him in the darkness. I appreciated the company of certain animals but Hellhounds were on my list of Kill on Sight creatures. The beasts could never be reasoned with and they always fought to the death. I would likely have no choice but to reveal the extent of my powers and expose myself as a master of Black Witchcraft. I decided for the sake of Sonja and the other women gathered with us to just Sleep the hounds. They'd wake up in the future but by then we'd either be long gone or all dead at the hands of the Archdemon. “Go to Sleep,” I whispered and watched the Hellhounds fall over into a deep slumber.
"Awaken!" shouted the Archdemon in his own language. His laughable attempt to reverse my spell failed miserably and I did my best to conceal my amusement. Now he knew for certain that there was a potent source of magic in the room and I waited to see his next move.
"I can't take this!" shouted one of the women behind me. "I'm leaving this room!” She sprinted to the door and exited into the hallway. I already knew we'd never see her alive again.
"Shit!" whispered Sonja. "Why the hell did she do that?"
"Fear can motivate us into some foolish decisions.”
Sonja sighed and crouched near me with her open mouth only inches from mine. The temptation to kiss her wasn't easily resisted. "What are we going to do?" she said. "I'm afraid too.”
"Right now I'm going to do this." I softly sampled her lips and ignited more of Ashley's memories. I saw a vision of priests and their plan to exhibit all of the female prisoners in some kind of circus-like sex arena. Two or more naked women were forced together while the sick-minded spectators enjoyed the show. Ashley and Sonja were thrown into each other's embrace but they were actual lovers and not just puppets for the perverse. Demons also occasionally joined in the arena for shock factor which is how the women eventually ended up dead.
Sonja's green eyes widened with surprise. "What was that for?"
"For luck." I probably should have stayed focused on the Archdemon and the unknown amounts of armed humans or lesser devils that were all sure to storm our room at any second. But after four-hundred years of abstinence from any sexual pleasure I needed a little reminder of what I'd missed. Sonja was attractive and she genuinely cared for the woman whose body I'd robbed without even blinking. I knew she was struggling to let go of Ashley and accept the fact that I'd just murdered her former friend. Maybe somehow she'd also learn to accept me for the monster I was and I remained curiously open to the idea of a female lover. Sonja could potentially even become my apprentice and learn all the wicked ways of Black Magic. But first things first, there was a deadly Archdemon to deal with and at this point I knew he was aggravated enough to rip me in half and feed me to his Hellhounds.
I whispered to Sonja in the darkness. "Do you own a house? Where did you live before the priests brought you here?" I needed a place to call home once we escaped the dungeon and wherever Ashley came from was off limits to me. Her family wouldn't exactly welcome me back with open arms especially once they discovered I was an impostor who'd snatched the body of their beloved daughter or sister.
Sonja nodded. "I have my own place in LA. I guess you could stay with me if you want?"
I raised an eyebrow. "LA?"
"Los Angeles." Sonja looked at me like I was insane. "Where exactly are you from?" She was still trying to wrap her head around Ashley now having an entirely different personality and claiming to be a woman named Annis. But given the recent reality of Hellgates and demons I imagined Sonja's young mind was able to consider the possibility that I was telling her truth.
"It's a long story. One we can discuss once we are safe and far away from this Hellhole."
She smiled but her
eyes were still full of fear. "I like the sound of being safe."
"No!” I screamed. “You son of a whore!" The circular bomb rolled into the room like a perfect little sphere of encapsulated death. I could recognize an explosive device designed to kill when I saw one. I cursed at the Archdemon for being such a spineless coward and using man-made weapons to try and destroy me. He must have been more afraid of my Black Magic then I'd anticipated. The device exploded and instantly killed all of the women in the room. I was barely able to cast a Shield of Protection in time but it still wasn't enough to completely cover both Sonja and myself. The impact from the detonation removed three of the fingers from left hand and knocked Sonja unconscious. She appeared to be in a coma or maybe even dead.
Excruciating pain and plenty of blood flowed from my hand where my fingers were formerly attached. I sealed the wounds with a Heal spell and initiated the regrowth of my fingers with Regenerate. I could recover from nearly fatal injuries and even regrow a single limb if necessary. What I couldn't do is revive the dead since my expertise was in dealing death, not giving life. Sonja wasn't breathing and I feared the worst. She had no pulse and her heart had stopped beating. My futile attempts to wake her failed which meant her soul was fading and she'd soon begin her journey into the Afterlife. She seemed like a good person so I genuinely hoped her destination was Heaven and not the fires of Hell. Ashley's empathy overpowered me and I wanted to collapse and cry but there was no time for tears. The demon was approaching to assess the damage done by the explosion. I calmed my troubled mind and prepared to speak the final words his pointed ears would ever hear as an Archdemon. He entered the room, stomping his hoofed feet and vibrating the entire floor. Archdemons were proud and arrogant creatures but I was about to break him and lower him back down the least of all devils. Once I killed the Arch he would revive in Hell as a new demon and be forced to climb the ranks of ascension all over again. Odds were that he would never rise back up to the level of Archdemon. Very few of them ever got a second chance.
I concealed myself and Sonja's lifeless body with Invisibility. The clueless Archdemon walked right next to us and I remembered him from my time in the Lake of Fire. His name was Zaebos and I hated him passionately. I'd swore revenge on all of the demons who'd tormented me for hundreds of years and now I had the opportunity to pay him back for the unspeakable ways he'd made me suffer. I wanted the cockroach to look deep into my black eyes before I killed him instantly with a single word. "Zaebos!" I said and cancelled the Invisibility spell.
The Archdemon twisted his thick muscular neck to the sound of my voice and our eyes met. He didn't recognize me and of course he wouldn't have known Ashley's face. But he would never forget my name.
"Black Annis has a message for you," I said to Zaebos. "Death!" I pointed at him and saw the fear in his gaze as his lifeforce was obliterated like a flickering flame caught in a raging rainstorm. I snuffed out his dark soul and sent his evil essence straight back to Hell. When the demon's corpse fell his priest companion fled in terror but I quickly stopped him. "Crippled!" I spoke a curse to dislocate his leg bones and his limp body dropped to the floor like a dead man.
"Where is your Necromancer!" I demanded. "Tell me and I'll make your death quick."
The trembling priest was speechless but he was able to point me in the direction of a door along the hallway of the dungeon. I kept my promise and swiftly snapped his neck with my hand that wasn't missing any fingers. I carried Sonja's breathless body in my arms and knocked on the Necromancer's door with my foot. An ugly aging man wearing a black Mage robe answered. His garment was beautifully exquisite in design but unfortunately he was barely above half my height so the robe would never fit me.
He cleared his throat. "How can I help you?"
"The priest sent us here. My friend was killed in an explosion."
"Explosion?"
"One of the demons accidentally set off some kind of bomb."
He shook his head. "Typical asinine demon. If it were up to me, we'd send them all back and seal the Hellgates shut. Come inside and I may be able to help you.”
"Can you save her?" I carefully set her body down on a metal examination table.
"Let me take a look." He covered his squinting eyes with a pair of silver circle-lens glasses and studied Sonja's corpse.
"She's definitely dead but I suppose I can bring her back."
"Please," I said. "She's very important to me."
"So what do you think of my chamber?"
"Do we really have time for this conversation?"
He waved a hand in dismissal. "Sure we do. Don't worry about your friend. She's not going anywhere and there's still plenty of time to resurrect her. Her physical body won’t start rotting for hours.”
I sighed and looked around. "Your chamber is lovely."
"And the bed? Do you like it?"
"Yes it's a beautiful bed. Maybe I'll take a nap on it after I kill you."
He cackled. "Kill me? I doubt that. And even if you could, why would you? If I'm dead then I can't revive your friend."
"Oh I'll wait until after you resurrect her. Then I will kill you."
"I'm not concerned about you killing me,” he said. “What I am concerned about is payment."
"Payment?"
"Yes, for my services. Resurrecting the dead is a rare skill and comes with a hefty price."
"So you require gold?" I asked.
"Look around you. Does it look like I need money? The priests pay me more than enough for keeping their sex slaves alive. One of the girls always ends up dead by the end of the week."
"Then what do you want?"
He grinned. "Oh I think you know."
I nodded. "Sex."
"Of course," said the Necromancer. "We all have our addictions to feed."
I laughed. "And you think you could survive joining me in bed, old man?"
"Old man?" He chuckled. "My appearance is deceiving. Underneath this gray and wrinkled exterior is a thirty-five year old warrior ready for anything."
"You appear as ninety."
He grimaced at my insult. "My dear, practicing these dark arts is not without consequence. We do tend to age much faster than normal."
"Consider a Youth spell from a Mesmerizer. They can work wonders on someone like you." A Youth spell could give him the appearance of a much younger man although the effects were only temporary.
He raised an eyebrow. "And what would you know about Mesmerizers or casting spells?"
"Me? Nothing. I'm just a foolish Black Witch."
The Necromancer sneered. "You lie! If that were true then you may actually have a chance of killing me. Depending on your level of experience and power, of course."
I smiled. "Of course."
He studied my appearance closely as if he was considering my claim to be a Witch. "Nonsense," he concluded. "You are far too attractive to be a Black Witch. And if you were a powerful Witch of any kind the priests and their henchmen would have never been able to capture you and bring you to this dungeon."
"Very true," I said. "You will receive your payment but first bring her back to the land of the living."
"As you wish," said the Necromancer. "But if you betray our agreement there will be serious consequences. I expect payment immediately, tonight, in my chamber's bed. Or you and your lovely friend here will eternally regret it."
I coldly stared at him as he prepared for the resurrection. "You shall have your reward."
CHAPTER FOUR
The Necromancer vehemently chanted with a flurry of foreign words that I couldn't understand. His form of Dark Magic was mysterious to me as was mine to him. Black Witches and Necromancers were taught from two very different archaic texts each with their own special language and list of spells. The Book of Black Magic and the Book of the Dead were how we individually learned our unique types of sorcery. Grim warnings to choose our paths carefully and read at our own risk were inscribed on the cover of each Book. Only a single sacred codex could b
e studied in a lifetime and any person who'd ever tried reading from more than one of the ancient tomes suffered with eternal madness. The insanity inflicted from the ambitious attempts to blend knowledge from different Books resulted in many memorable suicides.
Sonja's body suddenly began to convulse and she spit out clumps of clotted blood from her mouth. I'd seen the dead resurrected numerous times and I already knew what to expect. Her reaction was normal and a good sign the ritual was working. "Help me!" she said and opened her eyes.
I stood closer to her. "I'm here with you. Hold on and be strong. This will all be over soon."
The Necromancer shook his head. "I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?"
"What's wrong?" I hoped for the best and prepared for the worst. I knew exactly what he was going to say.
"She's going to survive," he said. "But as a Blood-eater."
My black heart would have broken if it wasn't so cold and Ashley's ghost that haunted me was crushed to see her friend condemned to such a horrible fate. "Are you certain?" A Blood-eater was essentially a crossbreed of a Vampire and a Zombie. Sonja would be alive but she'd need a daily supply of fresh blood to continue living. She'd also only live another ten years at best.
"I'm afraid so," he said. "Are you ready for the good news?"
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Is this a joke?"
"No joke. I've decided that since the resurrection was not a complete success I will accept half-payment."
"Half?"
The Necromancer nodded. "Yes half. I originally planned to sleep with both of you but I'm now willing to declare your debt paid in full if you alone go to bed with me. Without your friend. I'm not interested in having intimate sexual relations with a Blood-eater. No offense to you, young lady." He grinned and winked at Sonja.