A Monster Escapes

by Lewis Wolfe

  How could she even think of dressing like this? Only whores showed this much skin. She was no whore, was she?

  Wasn’t she? Gold dreaded the question because she found herself incapable of understanding the answer. She used her body to get what she wanted from men. Her vagina in trade for their flesh, blood, and bones. What did that make her exactly? Did it matter that she made the trade for the benefit of somebody else? Should a good girl not serve her father to the best of her abilities?

  Gold wanted very much to be good. She wanted to be perfect for the father that had spared her all those ages ago. That had torn the heads from Black and Red, but had favored her far above her sisters.

  She had been allowed to live because she could be useful for him. To Gold, still being alive signified her value as a woman. To be a woman was to be a daughter and that was all Gold ever wanted to know.

  The memories of the life she had lived before her father had found her again were vague and she didn’t want to have them. Whatever they were, whatever her life had been, was but a silly intermezzo between the acts of her servitude.

  To serve. That was what she had to do. If she had to use her sexuality for that purpose, she gladly would. She was good at it and Gold decided she wanted to be the best possible whore she could be.

  She had consumed much of the man she’d killed last night and felt much more powerful. Gold was anxious to find out exactly how much stronger she had become. Last night it had taken effort to generate Ralph’s, or Ron’s, something with an R’s, interest. How would it go tonight? Who would be her next prey and what was the amount of effort she had to put in?

  Gold took a deep breath, tossed her mother’s damning voice in the garbage can, and walked out of her apartment.

  Quickly she ventured down the stairs and reached the main area of her store. To her left, in the storage room, lay the bloody remains of the man she had killed the night before. Soon he would begin to smell, she thought, and Gold realized she had no idea what to do with the parts of his body that weren’t edible.

  She’d figure it out… or maybe her father would help her.

  3

  Ray was a man of many convictions. He had built them up over the years and had never cared to reevaluate them. His view on the world was set in stone and nobody had ever been able to shake it. He liked it that way.

  To be stuck in the confines of his establishment where men drank their nights away was safe and it was manageable. Every day he got up and knew exactly what to expect from the world around him. In return, he made perfectly clear to that world what it could, and could not, ask from him.

  Yet tonight, the world had betrayed its silent agreement. The betrayal had come in the shape of a big black man and the young girl that accompanied him. Or, she wasn’t a girl, supposedly. The ID she had very carefully taken from her wallet said she was in her early twenties.

  Fake IDs were something you saw in the big city, Ray knew. He had spent a few years in one trying to make it in the music industry that hadn’t wanted his presence. He remembered the underage girls sneaking into clubs on the merit of their blossoming sexuality and poorly crafted fake IDs. Big cities were ugly like that. They consumed the very people they vowed to shelter, in the safe knowledge that the next batch was always just around the corner.

  The girl’s, or young woman’s, ID had looked real and though it went against Ray’s comfort, he’d allowed the odd couple access to his establishment. He watched them, though, very carefully.

  The black man could be a problem if he was unable to hold his liquor. Though he was clearly out of shape there was something about him that suggested real, almost primitive strength. Ray recognized the vibe. It was the same one bouncers had, big and scary men that you couldn’t really read. The kind of men you had to point a gun at if you wanted to have a chance at beating them.

  The young woman, somehow, felt more threatening still. Ray knew people. He had built his entire working life around being able to read them and predict their behavior. A nasty drunk wasn’t something you wanted roaming around in your establishment. The young woman wasn’t readable and it frightened him to his very core. He couldn’t predict what those dark, piercing eyes wanted and he had difficulty believing that her tender smiles carried benign intentions.

  The odd pair sat silently at their table in the distant corner of his establishment. The black man slowly drank away at his beer, while the young woman hadn’t touched hers at all. They sat silently, and refused to look around them. Ray wondered very much what they were actually doing here.

  Ray heard the door open to his left and, at that exact moment, the black man got up and walked over to the pool table.

  Ray looked to his left and saw the very image of perfection standing in the doorway. She was stunning. No, beyond that even. She was flawless. Her golden curls framed a picture-perfect face, bringing out deep blue eyes and rosy cheeks. Her height should have been intimidating—she was taller than him—but somehow it only added to the amazing appeal she carried. An appeal emphasized by her perfectly proportionate chest that looked both firm and soft.

  Margaret was dressed much better than last night, he realized, with her ass popping in tight jeans. The cleavage her low-cut shirt showed tonight was breathtaking and Ray found it difficult to steer his eyes in any other direction. A black leather jacket completed the picture of a gorgeous woman looking for a good time.

  Ray watched as the perfect woman approached the bar and sat down. She gave him a friendly smile and he realized he would have killed to see it. Her lips were so beautiful, so perfect, that they warmed his heart in ways no woman ever had before. Ray knew for certain no other woman ever would.

  Slightly to Ray’s right sat Jones. Jones always came to his establishment straight after work. There was no life for the older man beyond Brooks Mechanical and Ray’s Liquors.

  Jones said, “Margaret! You devil! What did you do with Randall? Is he still tied to your bed or something? The bastard never showed up for work!”

  Ray watched as Margaret turned toward the old drunk. Her movements were graceful and refined, and Ray felt at that moment that his place was nowhere near good enough for her.

  “I don’t know, Jones,” she said with a playful smile. “He left last night a happy man.”

  Ray interjected, “You know how Randall is. Probably drunk in a ditch somewhere. He’ll come back to work when he’s sober.

  “Margaret, what can I get you sweetheart?”

  4

  Gold had seen the girl immediately when she entered the bar. She couldn’t explain it, but throughout the night she couldn’t stop looking at her. The girl’s presence was so strong that she had trouble focusing on the men that couldn’t help but circle around her. It was good to know that her power had returned to her in full form, but for some reason Gold didn’t care.

  She cared only about the young girl in the corner of the room, sitting by herself while staring at the glass of beer she never touched. It was as if, somehow, the young girl had entered Gold’s mind and whispered to her. Look at me. I’m all by myself here. Wouldn’t you want to know more about me?

  Those whispers led Gold now from her seat at the bar to the corner of the room. Before she knew it, Gold sat down and found two dark eyes staring at her. She almost drowned in those eyes. Dark eyes that belonged to a childlike face, crowned by beautiful mid-length hair.

  The two sat across from each other, gazing at each other in what seemed like a private lover’s moment. Gold couldn’t be sure, but she thought the girl was falling for her.

  “I’m G— Margaret.”

  The girl’s lips curled in an eager smile as she answered, “Hi! I’m Jane!”

  “Are you by yourself, Jane?”

  The girl shook her head. “My friend is over by the pool table. He’s been at it for hours, can you believe that? I’m practically alone, I guess.”

  Gold looked to her right and saw a big black man playing pool by himself. A half-full glass of beer stood
on the edge of the table.

  Then Gold returned her attention to the girl in front of her. Her young, dark eyes were zoomed in on Gold, as if they were looking for answers to questions Gold wasn’t aware of. The longer she looked into those eyes, the more lost she felt. Strangely, though, she had no desire to find her way back again.

  Her way back to where, anyway? To her duty? To her father’s demands? The father she wanted to be perfect for. Somehow, drowning in the girl’s strange, dark gaze, none of that seemed to matter much.

  She watched as Jane leaned over to her. The girl’s mouth drew into a wide grin.

  “Gold? Have you ever eaten a girl before?”

  Gold knew that the question should upset her. The girl wasn’t supposed to know her name was Gold. She wasn’t supposed to be aware of what Gold had done the night before. The fact that she knew these things was threatening, but her dark eyes were so warm and kind. Gold didn’t want to betray that beautiful stare.

  “I…. No… I’ve never eaten a girl before.”

  Jane’s grin seemed to grow even wider and excitement sounded through in her voice. “Can you just imagine? How much energy you could get from that?”

  Jane rolled her eyes. “I mean… men are just men, right?”

  They were. Gold knew the girl was right. Men were basic and weak and quite pitiful. Her mother had always said so, and Gold was certain she had been right.

  Jane said, “Can you just imagine, Gold? You… eating me! Wouldn’t that make him happy?”

  5

  Caleb was really fucking sick of playing all this pool by himself. He felt like a social reject walking around the table by himself, waiting for his client’s cue.

  That cue came half an hour after the stunning woman had joined Jane and a strange spectacle had unfolded in the bar. Nobody had wanted to stare at the two girls flirting with each other, yet none had been able to control their glances very well.

  Not even Caleb had been able to look away for larger amounts of time. The woman had been so exquisitely beautiful that it was impossible to ignore her. Even now that he knew what she was and what she had done, part of him wanted to be with her. All throughout the night, discovering every little aspect of the woman’s impeccable body.

  Caleb shook away those thoughts, or tried to, as soon as his client and the beautiful woman left the bar. He knew what he had to do now and there was no room for horniness. No time for the images that insisted on roaming inside his head. Showing him how he took the beautiful woman from behind. The beautiful woman on top of him. Him bringing the beautiful woman to a strong climax. The beautiful woman….

  … Slashing your throat with the knife she keeps underneath the bed. Or mine, Caleb. Focus!

  Jane’s voice echoing through his head was something Caleb thought he’d never be able to get used to. It was louder than it had ever been before, and Caleb knew his client was right. A dangerous situation was unfolding and he had to make sure Jane would be safe.

  He put the pool cue on the table and started toward the door. He wasn’t sad to leave the depressing atmosphere of Ray’s Liquors behind him.

  “Your girl left with our girl, man!” an old drunkard yelled at Caleb right before he opened the door. “Leave them be. Having a good old time, man!”

  The bald owner of the bar said, “Shut up, Jones. Mind your own business.”

  Caleb didn’t pay them any mind and opened the door. He stepped outside into the cool October night and immediately turned east. Jane had shown him where to go next before they had come to the bar.

  He walked over to the small store near the corner of the main street and felt the front door. Just as Jane had promised, the door was unlocked.

  Caleb stepped inside and was immediately surrounded by the chaos of a store that had long since forgotten what it was supposed to be. It was filled with shabby antiques, cans of paint, endless piles of papers varying in quality, notepads, briefcases, and many other things that kind of went together, but not really.

  Caleb couldn’t ignore the vague scent of decaying meat filling the store. He knew what it was because he had once spent a week next to a rotting corpse back in Iraq. The smell threatened to pull him back to the hot sand of the Middle East, the gunfire and the screams. So many screams. And so much blood….

  … Caleb, not now! You have to get upstairs!

  Jane’s voice found him just in time and he managed to tear himself away from the memories that plagued his mind.

  Caleb walked up the stairs and found an apartment door slightly ajar. Again, just as Jane had promised.

  Carefully he walked inside. It wasn’t hard to know where he was going because the small apartment filled up with the sounds of loud and eager moans. Caleb traced the wall with his back, sneaking ever closer toward the room where the expressions of lust and pleasure originated.

  He reached the bedroom and found the beautiful woman on top of Jane. Their legs were entangled in a confusing mess of limbs, and they passionately grinded their groins together.

  Caleb knew what his instructions were. He had to grab the beautiful woman and knock her out cold. With an iron will he ignored her exquisite beauty, and the boner it caused, and stepped into the room.

  Fuck, wait, Caleb! Wait just a little bit…. Just a little bit….

  Jane’s voice echoed inside his head and stopped him in his tracks. What was he waiting for? This was the perfect opportunity!

  When he heard their voices intensify Caleb realized why Jane had prevented him from finishing their plan. He both understood, and resented her.

  Jane’s voice exploded, “Oh fuck! Yes! Oh God….Yes!”

  Then all became silent and an eerie peace filled the room. The two tired bodies piled on top of each other, breathing heavily through the ecstasy slowly ebbing away from them.

  Now… Caleb. Do it now.

  Caleb pulled the beautiful woman away from Jane and tossed her against the wall. Before she knew what was happening he knocked her out cold.

  6

  Baal looked on with some amusement as he watched his daughter get carried from her store. Her hands and feet were tied and the strong Caleb carried her over his shoulder. They hadn’t even bothered to dress her.

  Where they were taking her? There was clearly only one possible answer to that question, Baal thought.

  Baal knew trouble when he saw it. Just like any other being older than the world itself, he had encountered trouble many times throughout his life. It came in so many shapes and sizes, too. Sometimes you lost, sometimes you won; that was the nature of things. Baal didn’t mind defeat whenever he faced it. If anything, he appreciated the sport of it all.

  Who was hunting him? It was a small, young woman that had no real name. She went by ‘Jane Elring’ but the name had no meaning.

  She was nobody, which made her capable of being anybody. She was both a saint and a manipulator, a savior and a plague, ugly and beautiful. What a delightfully terrible thing they had created in that laboratory of theirs.

  Baal flew through the air, following the unlikely trio as they passed Pineview Baptist Church. The sober building stood out like an ugly tooth against the dark backdrop of the night.

  In his earlier days Baal had resented religion as it tried to emphasize the good qualities man supposedly possessed. Soon Baal had learned that any organized religion was, at its core, a gathering of the most corrupt individuals mankind had to offer. He had grown to appreciate the ingenuity of the system over the years as he watched religion take the most from the people that had so little.

  Soon Jane Elring and her lackey would reach the sandy road that stretched out between the pines toward the Toaves mansion. It was the same road where Baal had first begun his torment of the beautiful Ethan Walker. The young man’s guilt had a delicious aftertaste that he still relished, even though Ethan Walker had long since departed from his grasp.

  Baal was a little less satisfied with what he had gotten from Ellie Aulding. Of course, he knew he had the small
blonde monstrosity to thank for that one.

  That was the dangerous thing about Jane Elring, Baal realized. It never mattered how strong his opponents were because no human being would ever be strong enough to beat him. You had to watch out for the smart ones. The tricksters. The ones that could gaze into your eyes and sell you the biggest, fattest lies without even so much as a blush. A good liar was fairly common, Baal knew, but an amazing liar was a rarity indeed.

  Jane Elring was intelligent and, equally important, she was desperate. Baal knew that, in this desperation, she would resort to pushing the boundaries of human morality.

  She had found the poor Caleb when he was at his weakest and decided that she could use that weakness to tie him to her. Baal could sense that the man had developed an unquestioning devotion to her; a less-trained eye would have concluded Caleb was in love.

  She had torn the fragile, old mind out of the tired body belonging to Arthur Toaves. Not because she needed him to help Ellie, but because she needed him to see her help Ellie. At quite some risk! Extorting minds from bodies was a terribly dangerous thing to begin with, and older bodies sometimes didn’t survive the process.

  The more Baal thought about it, the more he began to like Jane Elring. She had been given one hell of a deal and, all these years, she had been waiting for the right moment to change the tides.

  She had waited until Dr. Greer’s ego imploded on itself and her outplacement became a fact. For years she had played according to the rules. Reporting for the monthly checkups, playing nice with her handlers. Baal admired her patience.

  Now that Jane Elring had decided that it was time to finally claim the freedom she felt she deserved, she would stop at nothing to get it. Good for her, Baal thought.

  The more he appreciated Jane Elring, the more Baal realized he had to be careful. The girl was an intelligent, patient strategist with abilities that far exceeded those of other human beings.