The Sorceress

by Allison Hobbs

  “Be quiet!” Xavier hissed. “Tell that oaf of yours to tread lightly.”

  Without the assistance of feet, Eris crept along slowly and unsteadily. Boozer, on the other hand, possessing both sets of limbs, should have handled the task with ease. But he didn’t. He slipped and slid and skidded around the high-polished floors like a car spinning out of control on a road covered with ice.

  Xavier sucked his teeth at the spectacle. “Open that door on the left. Take the stairs. And hide out in the wine cellar. Quickly. Scurry, you beasts. The man is returning. Get out of sight.”

  Tiptoeing down the stairs, Boozer sniffed the air, taking in the smell of wine. He licked his lips and smiled in delight at the thought of being confined with libations.

  Disgusted at Boozer’s outward show of lust, Eris tried to kick him in the shin, but her transparent foot went straight through bone and flesh. Drats! “No drinking, Boozer! You have lots of work to do.”

  “Aw, why you wanna be like that? It’s been so long. I only want a little taste.”

  “No! You have to stay sober until we get my body repaired.” With great disgust, she perused her vanishing body parts.

  Brooding, Boozer poked out his lips. He gripped his chin, his claw-like fingernails furiously digging into his flesh.

  Jen listened intently, thinking she heard movement downstairs. When she heard an unmistakable clang, her heart leapt. She ran inside her bedroom quickly clicking the lock on the door. She was too frightened to come out of her room and trek down the hall to check on Ethan. His father would have to handle that task.

  Shaking in terror, she looked around for some type of protection. The only thing that could possibly serve as a weapon was a rather weighty alarm clock, which she snatched up, planning to wing it like a baseball at the misshapen head of that waxen-faced monster. She kept her eyes fixed on her doorknob, her heart knocking inside her chest as she imagined the beast turning the knob and then banging against the door, trying to force its way inside her bedroom.

  Oh, God. I need to talk to Rome. She raced across the room to grab her cell phone. She had to let Rome know what had happened. He’d believe her.

  Just before she picked up the phone, there was soft rap on her door. “All clear,” the senator said and knocked again—this time slightly harder. “Open the door, Jen. It’s okay.”

  She cracked the door open. “Are you sure?” Jen wrung her hands. “I thought I heard noises downstairs. A loud clang.” She wrinkled her brow in thought. “Maybe it was the sound of the ladder. You know…the metal scraping against stone.”

  “There was no ladder. I’m positive.” He draped an arm around her shoulder. “And there’s no one inside except you, me and Ethan.” Senator Provost drew in a deep breath. “Jen, you’re seriously overworked and I know you don’t want to hear this, but in my opinion…well, I honestly believe you’re experiencing sensory overload. You know, like someone who is sleep deprived.”

  “But I’m not sleep deprived.”

  “I know. I know. I’m simply using that as a comparison. You need a break. That’s all I’m saying. I can’t leave you here in charge of my son while you’re in such a distressed state. Catherine’s not going to like it, but I’m going to speak to her and let her know that I have to stick around at home for an additional day. I’ll tell the agency to send over several applicants. I’m going to personally interview and hire the first nanny that arrives. There’s no time to be picky…at this point, any qualified nanny will do.”

  Jen nodded. The senator was right…any nanny would do. The woman would not have to be a rocket scientist to sit and watch Ethan navigate the internet and to remind him to use the potty, point him toward his bath water, and then put him to bed.

  However, she’d have to possess the patience of Job to watch him revisit the same websites. Bridges. And more bridges. Hour after hour. And nerves of steel to endure his wheezing and his horrific episodes. Dealing with Ethan was enough to drive anyone batty.

  “After the new nanny is situated and comfortable, I want you to take a few days off. Get out of the house for a while. That’s an order. I’ll pay for you to stay in a five-star hotel. I want you to take advantage of room service and any pampering services the hotel offers. Deal?”

  Jen had been lost in thought. She came out of her reverie and nodded. The senator seemed completely sober now and was back to his normal, kind self. His generous offer was probably exactly what she needed. Acceptance washed over her. Once again, she’d hallucinated.

  She’d gone from imagining seeing a naked woman to a vicious and snarling, fur-covered ghoul crouched in the skylight. She shook her head. Caring for eerie Ethan was pushing her to the brink of insanity.

  “I’ll check on Ethan. Why don’t you get some sleep?” Senator Provost spoke softly, using the cautious tone one would reserve for the mentally unstable.

  Jen felt guilty for shirking off her responsibility to her charge. “I’ll go with you to check on Ethan. I heard him wheezing like crazy while you were outside, but I was too afraid to come out of my room,” she admitted.

  Together, they peered in on Ethan, who seemed to be sleeping soundly.

  “No wheezing,” the senator said.

  “Good. I feel so sorry for him when he’s breathing like that,” she lied. What she actually felt when Ethan started wheezing was agitation and, most often, fear.

  “There’s no explanation for the occasional labored breathing. He doesn’t have asthma or any upper respiratory problems.” Perplexed, he shook his head.

  “It’s a mystery,” Jen agreed, shaking her head as well. She laced her fingers fretfully. Though the child appeared to sleep peacefully, the atmosphere in his bedroom seemed charged with something malevolent.

  “Senator Provost, uh, this is going to sound silly…”

  He gave her a patient smile and waited for her to continue

  “Well, I was thinking…since you’re going to hire a new nanny, why not let her have my room? She’ll be closer to Ethan. I’ll move into that vacant room further down the hall.”

  “Shouldn’t you two nannies be in adjacent rooms?”

  Jen gave him a pitiful expression. “Just for awhile until I get over this irrational fear.”

  “Okay. Sure, but after the election…Catherine will be home from time to time and I can assure you, she won’t appreciate rooms being changed without her permission.”

  “I know, sir. The change will be temporary.”

  “I understand. But don’t start moving your things tonight. Let’s wait until we have a new nanny assigned and her belongings moved in.”

  She tried to give him a smile of gratitude, but feeling miserable, her lips turned down.

  In her own bedroom, she finally got around to calling Rome. No answer. She thought about texting him, but she had too much to say to fit into a text message. Weary from a busy day and terror-filled evening, Jen undressed and eased her tired body into bed. Jen lay on her back, staring at the ceiling.

  She refused to look around the room at the furniture and other objects that had taken on a scary look in the dark bedroom. Jen sat up and considered turning on the light. No! With the light on, she’d be forced to look at her bathroom and, even with the door closed, her eyes would stay focused in that direction, revisiting the hallucination of the skylight and the ghoul she imagined had tried to force its way inside.

  Jen shuddered. That thing had seemed so real and so brutal and murderous. The thought of ghosts and even terrorist attacks seemed almost laughable when compared to her delirious vision of a brutal monster trying to get at her and seeming to have the single-focused, killing instincts of a vicious, wild animal.

  She lay back down, but sleep wouldn’t come. Fear knocked her knees together beneath the blanket. She yearned to feel Rome’s protective arms wrapped securely around her, comforting her throughout the long and scary, dark night.

  From Ethan’s bedroom, she thought she heard a voice murmuring. Oh, God. Jen dove under the co
vers, too petrified to go and investigate. She hoped she could make it through the night without having to pee. No way she was going inside her bathroom with the menacing skylight and she’d be damned if she’d wander out of her room to use any of the numerous bathrooms in the Provost household.

  For Jen, sunshine and morning light couldn’t come soon enough.

  Too weak to intercede, Eris watched helplessly as Boozer, too sorry a creature to have the wherewithal to uncork the wine, broke off the bottle by the neck, spitting out shards of glass as he downed the pungent spirits. He belched boisterously and then wiped off his mouth with the back of his furry hand.

  A dim glow of blue emanated from her eyes and roamed the darkened cellar, looking for an escape route other than the stairs. She spotted a false floorboard and directed her weak beams of light beneath it. Drats! There was only a small dark room without an exit.

  She’d have to depend on Xavier for further direction. Xavier was such a trickster with a twisted and deviant mind, he didn’t know the meaning of the word “loyalty” and Eris doubted if she could completely trust him.

  But she was fading fast and could only hope the little menace had hatched a plan to get his female caregiver down the steps and into her clutches. Eris would take it from there.

  Really? she asked herself and then gazed at the ends of her wrists where there should have been hands. How would she subdue the red-haired trollop? No hands…no feet or legs. And she was swiftly losing her upper limbs. She slid a glance at Boozer.

  He was as drunk as a skunk. No help at all. The ghoul was absolutely useless. She narrowed her eyes and strained as she tried to burn him with her gaze, but the light that emanated from her eyes had no power or glow. She couldn’t ignite even a tiny flash of light. That special ability that served as superior night vision, as well as for inflicting scorching pain, had been compromised.

  Eris snarled. She’d use Boozer for target practice after she regained the full use of vision. She’d burn so many holes in him, he’d think twice before he disobeyed her orders again. He’d be lucky if she didn’t decide to cut her losses and light him up until he burst into flames.

  No sunlight filtered into the wine cellar, but the annoying melody of chirping birds told Eris that morning had finally arrived. There was no more time to waste. Her lower arms and legs were gone, with ragged pieces of skin drooping from her elbows and her kneecaps as if her limbs had been hacked off by a maniac surgeon.

  The urge to self-preserve kicked her senses into high gear. She sniffed the air; her eyes flickered about the darkened place, searching for a source of life force. She’d be damned if she was going to sit back like a bump on a log and allow her body to fade into complete nothingness.

  She heard a noise overhead. Beeping sounds. Someone had entered the home. Ah! So her hearing was still intact and quite keen. Delighted, Eris smiled and then stabbed her companion from hell with her elbow. “Boozer, wake up!”

  Boozer, slouched, legs splayed. His penis, large and pulsing, awakened and extended from inside its fur-covered foreskin.

  “There’s a female mortal overhead. Climb up those stairs and bring her down here to me.”

  Boozer looked down at his swollen appendage. The urge to copulate made him drool.

  “You’ll get your satisfaction from her. Now go get her. Drag her down here if you have to, but make sure she’s alive when I get my hands on her.” Eris licked her lips in anticipation.

  Boozer, hung over from the wine, could hardly maneuver his oversized wobbly body. Head pounding, phallus throbbing, he groaned as he crawled up the stairs.

  “Silence!” Eris hissed.

  Boozer clamped his mouth closed and crawled to the top of the stairs.

  Deceitful behavior was second nature to him. Stealthily, he twisted open the door and then crawled toward the scent of a human female. Taking an arm out of a gray jacket, she stood near a hook on the back of the pantry door, her knit hat pulled snug around her head.

  Boozer looked around in wonderment at all the shiny machinery positioned around the kitchen. He’d never seen any of the appliances and would have loved the opportunity to tinker with them and see how they worked.

  As his eyes roved swiftly, he was awestruck by the craftsmanship of the wood cabinetry. He wished he could sit a spell and take in the marvels of modern man, but he had a pressing need and Eris wouldn’t appreciate the time wasted with him browsing around.

  Quietly, he slithered across the shiny tile floor and when he reached the back of the female’s ankles, he lurched to his feet. She let out a breath of surprise. Boozer quickly clamped his clawed hand over her mouth, muffling her scream.

  Boozer hauled the squirming, resistant female to the cellar stairs and softly closed the door behind him. She kicked mightily, forcing him to tighten the grip he had around her waist. He heard a snap and looked around suspiciously. The sound had a familiar ring to it. The woman stopped struggling and went limp.

  Old memories flooded his mind. Then it came to him…he’d cracked one of the female’s ribs. That used to happen quite often, back in the old days when he had to simmer down a feisty female in order to have his way.

  Smiling at the fond recollections of molestation and mayhem, he delivered the injured prey to Eris. Proudly, he laid the unconscious female in front of Eris. Slobbering and grinning, Boozer waited to hear Eris murmur words of approval.

  “Pick her up and hold her close to my mouth,” Eris barked. There was a time when she would have siphoned the life force out of a human, leisurely taking in the essence of both males and females. But she was too bad off; she needed to go straight to the bloodstream.

  Boozer lifted the woman, whom he would have considered hefty during his human life. But in his current form and with his enhanced strength, she was as light as a feather. Her jacket hung off of her shoulders; her hat was now twisted and sat lopsided on her head. The female’s leg dangled from beneath her skirt; her thigh flush with Eris’s face.

  Eris could hear the rush of the life force she desperately needed coursing through the woman’s veins. She bared her teeth and ferociously ripped away nylon pantyhose, tearing into the soft, spongy flesh of the ample woman’s thigh.

  The female awakened, her enormous eyes filled with bewilderment and pain, and pleaded for mercy. Eris bit her again, expecting to hear her howl in agony, but the female, too shocked to scream, produced only a sharp gasp.

  Eris watched the female closely while she chewed her flesh. The woman gaped at Eris’s blood-covered lips and then down at her own ravaged thigh. Now, her mouth was stretched open, preparing to liberate an explosive scream.

  “Shut her up!” Eris ordered, still chewing on a large chunk of meat.

  Boozer covered the woman’s mouth.

  With the female silenced and held still, Eris swallowed and then attacked the woman again, this time sucking the open wound, greedily slurping out blood and tendons, exploring the ravaged region with her tongue.

  The female writhed in agony as Eris feasted. Savagely, she bit through marbled flesh and soft tissue until her teeth scraped against bone. The woman’s anguished groan was heard; despite the tight seal Boozer’s wide palm had made upon her lips.

  The victimized woman succumbed to unconsciousness as Eris lapped blood and munched on olive-colored skin and red meat, filling herself with pulsating life force. She could feel the mortal’s essence rushing through her. She felt vibrant and very much alive.

  “Look!” Boozer gawked down to Eris’s feet, which amazingly were beginning to materialize.

  Excited by the progress she’d made, Eris chomped deeply into the other thigh and moaned at the succulent flavor of fresh human flesh and blood. Awed and inspired by the rush of life she was infused with, Eris crunched into the flank of flesh, devouring juicy muscle and stringy tendons. She quivered with glee when she saw the appearance of her extremities and finally her hands.

  The female bled profusely from her open wounds. Her blood, dark and thick, poo
led and streamed across the floor. The mortal was no longer useful. Eris frowned at the half-dead female. With her newly formed hands, she shoved the bloody mortal away.

  Fast as lightning, Boozer stuck out a hairy hand and grabbed the bleeding female by the ankle. He snatched her from Eris’s grasp, yanking her into the shadowy bowels of the cellar.

  Though he didn’t crave blood or yearn for the taste of flesh, he had a ravenous sexual appetite—a need so primal it was debilitating, causing his head to throb. The room seemed to spin, and his vision blurred.

  Again the mortal female awoke and opened trembling lips. Shutting off her scream before it started, Boozer covered her mouth with his roughened palm and then angrily slammed her head against the floor, sending her back to oblivion.

  Voraciously hungry for sex, he hoisted the limp female’s skirt around her waist. Boozer used a claw to slash through the nylon and cotton panty barriers. Inhaling the tangy aroma of female loins, he became drunk with lust.

  He pulled her limbs apart so viciously, the harsh crack of thick bones echoed through the cellar. Undeterred by her drooping torso and lolling head, Boozer worked to make her groin more accessible. He stretched the older woman’s thighs. The broken bones made it easy to pull the bloodied flanks of flesh widely apart until her legs were stretched absurdly taut like a young gymnast performing a straddle split on a balance beam.

  He positioned her lower body atop his mammoth fur-thatched loins.

  The cook’s lids fluttered open as she felt the monster brutally thrust inside her, impaling her. And puncturing vital internal organs.

  As her life seeped out, Carmen’s lips moved rapidly in prayer. With a quivering finger, she made the sign of the cross.

  Aloud clatter pulled Jen from a sweet dream. She sat up and looked around. Sleepily, she glanced at the bedside clock. Six-thirty. Carmen must be banging around in the kitchen, getting breakfast ready, she told herself as she lay back down, tugging the down-filled comforter over her shoulders.