Maleficarum: Hunger of the Witch (6 page)

“Ohhh, come and dwell with us
, spirit of love. Dwell in our flesh and strengthen us, O Lord of the Flies. Come and dwell in our bodies and take pleasure in them as we do ourselves.”

“
Fiddlesticks,” Ann said. Most of the windows had been covered, but looking out at the raging hordes, everyone knew that they needed to double up on everything.

“Hol
y crap, they’re starting their Sabbath,” Nick said as the shadowy figures danced around the hateful flames. Like a great serpent’s tongue thrashing at the sky, the fire raged, and around it the damned made their defiance known to God. Bodies writhed in sexual acts and dance. No discernment could be made between the two. Not man or beast, young or old, nor life or death played a part in their thoughts or their actions. Unnatural shrills, bleats of goats, and deep voices shouted horrific blasphemies that seemed to curdle the air. Fearsome naked bodies clashed like slobbering bulls intent on murder. The demonic sex dolls poured out of the porno shop and instantly began to commit horrendous acts of carnal sickness.

The sight made
Beverly’s stomach churn. For all her relativist and nihilistic musings in her high school papers, she knew on a gut level that what she was seeing was wrong. Some things were just evil. The witches were free to do anything
,
and anything was what they did. The sight repulsed her
.

“What time is it
?” Nick barked.

Beverly
pulled out her phone and took a look. “Ten thirty.”

“It won’t be long,
” Nick said, turning away from the hellish sight.

“What?” Mike asked
, popping his head up.

“The witching hour, and as we get closer and closer
to that time, their power is going to grow. They’re calling to their evil masters, and when they arrive, we’re dead,” he said, trembling.

“So, what do we do?
” Kim asked.

Nick looked bewildered at the comment.
“I don’t know. I have no clue,” he admitted.

The admission hit everyone in the room hard. He was clearly
the smartest person in the there and had the most knowledge on the occult. With his mind blank, there was little they could do. Nick was shocked himself that he couldn’t come up with something. All throughout his life he had been the smart guy, the one everyone asked for advice, but with no brilliant plan or cunning strategy coming forth, it was like a piece of his identity was slowly eroding. He had to come up with something.

Suddenly,
a metallic crash accompanied by the sound of shattering glass exploded from inside the store. Everyone went silent as they peered around the dark room. Ann raised her sword in anticipation of the worst. Then, from a dark corner of the store, out stepped Rick. His eyes were sunken and black. Blood gushed from his mouth, and his face was covered in boils.

“I think I
’m sick,” he said spitting out globs of oily blood. “I think that thing gave me something.” He raised the hand that had been bitten. It was black, withered, and pulsing. As he tried to take another step forward, he crashed to the floor like a trash bag full of lard. “Help,” he whimpered.

“Fuck
, dude, I ain’t touching him. I hate to be like that, but fuck,” Mike said.

Kim recoiled at the sight of the fat man trying to right himself.

“It hit me so fast, guys. I can’t move. God, it feels like something’s moving inside my arm.”

“Y’all
, I’ve got to help him,” Ann said, trying to steel herself.

“Don
’t do it man! He’s got Ebola or some shit,” Mike said, grabbing Ann’s arm.

“Please help me,
” Rick moaned, slumping back to the floor, face down. Blood began pouring from his mouth with a fantastic force. The stream of blood and bile quickly changed to massive chunks of meat. The odor of feces filled the room, nearly choking off everyone’s breath.

“Ohhh
, my God,” Beverly screamed, raising her sword. Rick shot back up to his feet, and he took off, running through the store. As he ran into the catacomb-like bookshelves, they all lost sight of him. The sound of thrashing, ripping, and howling filled the air. The howling mixed with the sound of the witches’ chanting, almost harmonizing with it, and as abruptly as it started, it stopped, leaving nothing.

“Suspiria
…Suspiria,” Rick screamed, and then he went quiet once more, leaving only the hum of the witches’ voices. They were only vaguely able to triangulate him from the sound of his movement.

“I
’m just gonna guess, but I think we’re going to have to kill him,” Mike said checking to see if he had a bullet in his chamber. From the darkly lit bookshelves, the fat man crept out of the shadows. It looked as if he was professionally lit to be in a film noir as a single beam of light from the moon hit his blood-pulsing mouth. As he stumbled further into the light, all of them could see that his eyes had been plucked out. Almost as shocking was the fact that the fat man was completely naked. His belly jiggled each time he smacked into the shelves. Suddenly, Rick turned his back on them, but he kept walking toward them. The sound of his bare feet slapping the blood-soaked carpet visibly disturbed Beverley.

“Are you
OK?” Ann ventured timidly.

Mike turned and shot
her a glare for asking such a stupid question. The bleeding fat man slowly bent down and grabbed his hairy ass cheeks. He spread his cheeks apart to reveal a bulging human eye pushing out of his anus. The eye darted around, scanning the room, and the five stunned souls could only gasp in horror.

“It looked right at me,
” Mike screamed as he fired his gun, hitting the fat thing in the ass. In a flash the fat man spun around, baring a set of monster’s teeth, and with a vicious scream, the hideous creature lunged. Kim shrieked as Ann swung her sword, smacking the obese creature in the head. Falling to the ground like a hewn tree, the monstrous form landed at her feet. Mike fired wildly into the raging beast as it reached out and snagged Ann’s foot. Ann chopped at the arm, and if it had been a better blade, it might have gone all the way through. Instead, she had to chop repeatedly until the bone snapped on the howling beast. Kim took off, running as fast as she could into the depths of the store as Beverly stuck her sword into the creature’s back.

“I am all there is,
” the hellish thing yelled while spewing its body fluids. Ann and Beverly slashed wildly at the blubbery body, carving out massive chunks of meat.

“Die
, you son of a bitch,” Beverly screamed as she snapped her sword over the beast, but even though both girls were hacking at its flesh like Viking berserkers, the beast would not die. Blood and gore was flung into the air and painted everything within a ten-foot radius; however, no matter how hard they hit the writhing mass, it never stopped moving. Nick ran behind Mike and grabbed a leftover bag of bath salts and rushed it over to the screaming mass of ripped flesh. He tore into the bag, slinging the salt over the body. With a horrendous shriek, the body began to boil and burst like a hot dog left in the microwave too long. A putrid red steam rose from the body. Its last gurgles trailed off, leaving only the sound of the chanting witches. The room looked like a piece of postmodern art as it dripped rancid fluids.

“I
’m not touching it, so don’t even ask,” Mike insisted.

“I need that freaking drink now,
” Ann exclaimed as the monster’s body began to wither. Mike stopped reloading his gun and pulled a flask out of his back pocket and tossed it to Ann. She caught the flask and popped the top. Without a thought, she took a deep pull. Her soft, feminine face scrunched as the heavy aftertaste hit the back of her nose from the gasoline Mike was trying to pass off as alcohol. It was the first time she had ever had a sip of alcohol, but what the hell? She very well could die tonight, so she might as well get at least one forbidden act under her belt before she stood at the pearly gates.

“Ahhh
, that’s bad,” she said, taking another swig. This time she couldn’t hold it down and gagged as she handed it back to Mike.

“G
ood Lord, girl, leave some for me,” he demanded, swilling the rest of the booze before tossing the empty flask to the blood-soaked ground. Ann then ran and snagged a few more swords out of the display cases, and this time she took their construction into account. She picked the most durable-looking of the swords instead of simply taking the largest. She came back and handed one to Beverly. Beverly snatched the blade with her uninjured hand.

“Fuck
, I’ve got only a few shots left, y’all. Five, I think,” Mike said slapping his magazine back into his gun. Ann could see the look of fear on Beverly’s face and saw that tears were forming in her eyes. She was trying to hold back, but their coming was inevitable.

“I got bit by one of them,
” she whimpered as she slid her fingers under her shirt to feel that the bite on her shoulder was still not clotted. “I got bitten, and now I’m going to have one of those things inside me. They gave me whatever sickness he had, and I’m going to have one of those things inside me.” The tears finally burst from her eyes like a levee under too much pressure.

Ann grabbed her by the back of the neck
and cradled her head. “No, you’re not, love. You’re my friend, and I won’t let it happen. I love you so much, and I won’t let it happen even if I have to go and kill them all myself.”

Nick eased over to
Beverly and coaxed her out of Ann’s arms. He yanked her shirt back to take a look at the angry wound. It was deep into her shoulder, and the pink flesh around it was starting to turn a putrid gray. The wound wept a thick black fluid that smelled of rot, and it was refusing to even mildly scab over. Red streaks were starting to race up her neck. The infection was running wild in her veins.

Satanic witches were
a corruption of the mind, the soul, and the body, and it was now clear to everyone that the witches would stop at nothing to spread it to those who had any goodness or purity in them. Ann watched Nick run to the trash can and pull out some of the fast-food wrappers that they had tossed earlier. He flew around the room, gathering anything that was known to stop corruption either physically or symbolically. He came to her and pulled some of the unused salt packets out of the fast-food bags. He mixed the salt with honey and Saint John’s Wort, and he slathered the concoction all over her wound.

“This will work
,” he said. Ann could tell just by the tremble in his voice he was lying. He handed Beverly an assortment of silver charms and necklaces that the store sold and instructed her to put them on. “Bind her wounds,” Nick barked as he ran into aisles, gazing at the books.

“W
hat are we doing now?” Kim asked, poking her head out of her hiding place behind the counter.

“I
’m going on the offensive,” he said, lighting up one of the many scented candles that were all about the store. He frantically began rifling through the books, trying to find anything useful. “I know the store well, and I study its contents when I can. So I have a good idea on where I can find the information we need,” Nick roared.

Ann watched
Beverly slide her back down a bookshelf, taking a seat. Ann scooted in next to her and tossed an arm around her. She pulled Beverly in close. Ann could feel her heart racing.

“You know
, when I was like fourteen, I was out in the field beside my house,” Beverly confided, snuggling into Ann. “I was out there painting a picture of the old shed, and I had my easel and my paint and my brushes all set up. I remember I was almost finished when I saw this lovely little monarch butterfly come floating in. I don’t know why, but it landed right in my red paint, and it just got stuck. It was flapping its wings as hard as it could, but it was just getting sucked in deeper. I wanted to save the little guy, so I reached down and tried to help him out. He was flapping so hard that I couldn’t really grab him, but every moment that passed, he was just digging himself in deeper. So I did the only thing I could. I reached in. It…It smashed him even deeper into the paint, and every time I tried to pull him out, I would just end up pushing him further down. By the end, he was just this little broken thing that had only one wing left and even less life. I just cried as I realized all hope was lost, so I smashed him. I knew then that there was no God. What kind of thing would allow someone’s best intentions to become murder?” Beverly looked at Ann and her brother with tears rolling down her blood-covered cheeks. “These things are from the devil, aren’t they?”

“I think so,
” Ann said as she squeezed Beverly.

“Then
there might be a God?” Beverly wondered.

“You know I always thought there was, but…Yes
, there might be,” Ann said tentatively.

“Fuck, t
hat sucks. I might have to rethink my idea of becoming a stripper.”

“You would have made a terrible strip
per, anyway…You've got no rhythm…, or boobs,” Ann said giving her a playful shove.

“Funny how evil made me deny something
, and an even greater evil made me confirm what I was denying. You think we should pray?”

“It couldn’t hurt,
” Mike speculated as he took a seat next to his sister.

Beverly
looked into Ann’s soft eyes. “Do you remember the Lord’s Prayer?”

“Parts of it.”

“I think I’ve seen the exorcist so many times I could say it,” Mike said.

“Go for it
,” Beverly muttered as she bowed her head. The rest followed her example as Mike started.

“Oh God
, give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us. Lord, you are our high tower, and you lead us beside good water and green pastures. Our Lord, hallowed be thy name, and when your kingdom comes, it shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. And Lord, help us kill these savages outside that want to do us harm. I don’t know if they’re from the devil or some kind of government experiment or what, but they need to be taken off this earth and sent to the bottomless pits of hell. I don’t know why you put us through this, Lord, but I mean, come on! Really? Help us out, big guy.” No one pointed out that Mike had gotten most of the words wrong. It was the thought that counted.

“It’s not going to help,” Hegel said, cackling from behind the door. Mike yanked the gun from his waist band.

“Neither will the gun,
” she said, now sounding as if she was coming from the roof. Mike tried desperately to follow, but the voice always seemed to be shifting in and out of reality.

“Well, the gun
helped out a lot so far, and I know a prayer can’t hurt,” Mike retorted.

“Why do you think a good God would put you in this situation to start with?”

“I don’t know, Maybe he’s got plans for us,” Ann countered defensively.

“Yes,
his plan is for you to be raped, butchered, and consumed. I know, because it was your God that sent me here.”

“You have nothing
, and we’re not falling for your bluff.”

“It’s no bluff
. I only speak the truth.”

“You don’t even
know what that is,” Ann barked.

“We shall see,
” Hegel taunted as her voice faded.

No one said a word.
Beverly felt her body dump all of the energy she had stored in her muscles. The words of the witch cut deep. She slumped onto Ann and only the opposing weight of each other's bodies kept them upright. Beverly’s mind faded back to when she and Ann were kids. There was a massive hill, at least it seemed massive when they were kids, that sat at the edge of the playground next to their homes. They would imagine they were in the Land of Oz as they rolled down the hill pretending to be attacked by the wicked witch and her diabolical magic. Beverly would always throw a fit if she wasn’t Dorothy, but it was a roll Ann had rarely wanted anyway. The Tin Man was always her favorite, either that or Glenda the good witch.

“
What did Dorothy have anyway but a dog and some magic shoes she didn’t know how to use? Naw, the Tin Man had an ax, and the good witch had a wand she could actually do things with, and they didn’t whine nearly as much,” Ann would say. The movie was everything that was good about Beverly's childhood, all wrapped up in one wonderful Technicolor package, and so the sights and sounds of Munchkin Land rolled past her mind's eye as she felt Ann snuggle closer to her. She knew why Ann still loved the stupid movie so much. She finally had to admit that she still loved it, too.

They had killed that stupid witch a thousand times when they were kids, and it looked like they were going to have to do it one last time. She didn’t know how, but they’d find a
way.

*
* *