Authors: Miss Merikan
She smiled and ran up to him over the path
that thankfully had been cleared of fresh snow. He put the phone away and threw
out his cigarette.
“Hey, babe!” Hunter jumped off the bench
and spread his arms wide.
Asty slid straight into his arms and stood
on her toes to get the first kiss of the day. “Hey...”
“You ready for a surprise?” He hugged her
close and smiled.
Asty touched the large leather jacket he
wore over all the other layers and nodded. She was ready for anything that was
coming her way. She could only hope Hunter would enjoy her surprise as well.
*
She didn’t know what to expect, but when
Hunter drove down into the underground parking lot of a hotel, she was getting
a vague idea of what the surprise could be. One of the biggest problems for
their relationship was finding places and times where they could meet up
without suspicion.
“I booked something special,” Hunter said
with a smile as they approached the reception area after exiting the elevator,
and Asty couldn’t help but melt on the inside, because she knew he didn’t have
that much money.
“Mr. and Mrs. Stone?” The lady at the
reception smiled, and just as Asty was about to clear up the confusion, Hunter
spoke.
“That’s us.”
Asty closed her mouth and didn’t comment,
though she felt it was a bit silly of him to book them as a married couple
after she had rejected his proposal though it did sound nice. She slowly leaned
into him and put her hand on his hip, enjoying the sensation of his body
supporting her.
Hunter picked up the key card and led Asty
to the fourth floor. He pulled off his scarf once they stood in front of the
door and loosely tied it round her eyes. “No peeking,” he said and led her into
the room.
Asty squeezed his fingers and stepped
forward, trying to sense something that could give away his plans.
“Carefully …” He held her hand all the way
to what had to be a bed and asked her to sit and wait a bit. There was some
rustling as he moved about, then the sound of striking matches, and she chewed
on her lip, giddy to see what he prepared for her.
He finally pulled the scarf off her eyes,
revealing a large room drowned in yellow candlelight. She was sitting on a
king-sized bed with a tall headboard made of black metal, and all the decor was
fashionably modern. By the window, a Ouija board lay on a coffee table between
two armchairs.
“That’s so pretty,” she said and stroked
Hunter’s forearm gently. It was so nice of him to think of her tastes, even if
he didn’t know much about her beliefs yet. And in fact, throughout the last few
weeks, he was quite eager to participate in various cleansing rituals and
spells. Once, they even went to the woods outside of town, and they savored
some of the powers of the regenerating nature. They drank herbs that she
prepared and walked between the trees, and he never once told her any of it was
silly. She really appreciated that openness about him, and it was slowly making
her confident she could trust him with secrets that were weighing on her heart
more with each passing day. Since he used to be religious before and still had hang-ups
about hell, it shouldn’t be that hard to make him understand there was more to
spirituality than Jesus. If he learned about the ways of demons, they could be
together when he died as well, many years into the future.
“I thought it would be up your street. I
also have a few cozy horror movies we could watch.” Hunter snorted and leaned
down for a kiss as he joined her on the mattress. “I miss just being able to
hang out with you, sleep in the same bed, and wake up without having to exit
through the window at the threat of death.”
Asty chuckled and kissed his lips,
breathing in the pleasant scent of cinnamon and ginger that must have
originated from the candles. It reminded her of Christmas cookies. “I know. I
hate all the sneaking around. It’s only fun when you read about it in a book.”
“You ready to find out who died in this
hotel?” Hunter wiggled his eyebrows and pulled her to the coffee table.
Asty dropped her coat on the dresser,
kicked off her shoes, and sat down in front of the Ouija board, taking her bag
with her. She really wanted to tell him something else, and now she had an idea
how to do that. “I think we should first ask the spirits something else.”
Hunter nodded as they both sat by the
table. “Sure. What do you want to ask?”
Asty put her hand on the planchette,
knowing she didn’t even have to ask the spirits. An electric current was
tingling underneath her skin as she listened to Hunter’s breathing so close to
her. “I think we should ask them what we’re gonna have,” she said and glanced
toward her stomach.
“What if the spirits say: Demon?” Hunter
put his hand on hers.
Asty kissed his shoulder and looked at the
board. “Go on, ask.”
Hunter looked toward the ceiling. “To
whoever is listening, please come and tell us if we will have a boy or a girl.”
Asty looked at him for the longest moment
before slowly pulling the planchette toward the letter B. Then, to the letter
O, and by the time the wooden piece stopped at Y, all the hairs on her body
were raised.
Hunter licked his lips and grinned at her.
“Looks like we’re having a boy.” He leaned closer for a kiss, never taking his
fingers off hers.
Asty swallowed hard and dove her hand into
her bag to pull out the large cardboard envelope where she put the prints from
the ultrasound. It felt so heavy in her hand when she handed it to Hunter. “And
that’s my surprise for you.”
Hunter took it and pulled out the prints,
but when he realized what he was looking at, he stopped breathing. “Oh, fuck!
For real? We
are
having a boy?” His grin was so big it could split his
face in half. He got up and pulled Asty with him as he closed her in a hug.
“That’s so amazing, babe,” he said and stroked her baby bump with a tender
smile.
“Why, didn’t you believe the spirits?” she
teased and spun some of his hair around her fingers. She was ecstatic to see so
much unwavering enthusiasm in him. There was no doubt in her that he was
invested in both her and the pregnancy.
“They could be evil. They could be lying.”
He put both his hands over her belly and didn’t stop grinning like a madman. “I
can’t believe I’m going to have a son. I’m going to be a
dad
. It’s so
strange when you say it out loud.”
Asty nodded and kissed the tip of his nose,
pushing against Hunter and glancing at the pictures. “You
are
going to
be a dad. I hope you can teach him all the manly stuff he needs to know.”
“Like playing the cello.” Hunter snorted
and grabbed her lips in a hungry kiss.
“That would be so cool. You two could play
for me,” she said, freezing on the inside the moment she said that, even though
her lips responded to Hunter’s touch. What was she even thinking? She would not
be in the picture by then. This was her cue to stop thinking like a love-struck
girl and take matters in her hands. Teach Hunter all he needed to know for the
future, before it was too late.
“I bet he’d hate me for suggesting that.
He’s gonna be a little rebel and become a priest, maybe even a bishop.” Hunter
picked her up and spun them around.
Asty held on to his neck, and her heart
beat even faster. She felt so confused by all this. “You know what, I have an
idea for something to do in the evening. We could go out for a few hours and
then come back,” she whispered against Hunter’s clean-shaven cheek.
“Oh? What is it?” Hunter put her down and
kneeled in front of her, pressing his lips to her stomach through the fabric of
her dress.
Asty brushed her fingers over the top of
his head. “Something I need to show you. It’s very special to me.”
“Absolutely. We can go do that at night. We
have the room ‘til tomorrow anyway.” He looked up to the ceiling and put his
hand on the planchette. “Oh, Spirits! Spirits … Does Astaroth want to have sex
with me right now?” His hand swiftly moved the piece of wood to“Yes,” and
Hunter gasped. “Would you look at this …”
Hunter needed to pick the lock in one of
the smaller gates to the cemetery that Asty led him to, but he was high on
today’s news, so it was no big deal. If Asty wanted to go to a cemetery for her
birthday, so be it. He knew already that she didn’t always do things the same
way the other women he’d known would. All he could think of as he drove the van
through the streets, holding Asty’s hand between the seats, was that he would
have a son and that the baby was healthy. Even the misery of having to still
sneak around with Asty wasn’t an issue tonight. This night was just for the two
of them, and he’d bend to whatever wish she could come up with.
“Where are we going?” he whispered as they
strolled hand in hand among the graves. It was dark, but the moonlight and the
glow of the city provided enough illumination to safely follow the path between
the trees. Asty seemed to know her way by heart, as she led him forward without
even a trace of doubt.
“To a special place.”
That sounded creepy, but he wasn’t scared
of ghosts, so he’d go with it. “Why tonight?”
Asty squeezed his hand. “It just feels like
the right time.”
“Is it a sexy surprise?”
Asty smirked as she looked back at him.
“Maybe ...”
That was all he needed to know. He’d be up for
another fuck. No problem at all. They had spent hours in the comfortable hotel
bed, had long, sensuous sex, then ordered food, and watched movies curled up
underneath the covers. They played with the spirit board and wrestled a bit,
though he was bound to fail, having to be careful with Asty’s belly. He didn’t
mind losing if the “punishment” was having to eat her sweet pussy. It was worth
every penny he saved up for it from the odd jobs he got around the club. If
only he could be with Asty all the time. Never before had he met a woman who
had such a profound effect on him. It was almost as if her every movement was
worthy of notice. True, sometimes she did say something creepy or asked him to
participate in rituals he didn’t understand, but it was something they could do
together, and usually he quite enjoyed himself in the process.
Asty strayed from the path and walked up a
small hill and past a naked tree until she stopped behind it and gently pulled
Hunter closer. The buzz of the city was echoing all around them, but the
cemetery was very quiet. They were completely alone in the dark.
“So … what now?” He raised his eyebrows and
looked around.
Asty looked up at him, and her eyes
reflected the moonlight so beautifully he couldn’t look away. “Now, you should
open my coat,” she whispered.
“The cold won’t hurt the baby?” he asked,
but his fingers already went to the buttons at her front. If she wanted to
perform some kind of birthday sex voodoo, he wouldn’t be objecting. She was the
hottest, craziest girl he’d ever met, and he was eating it up like gingerbread
for Christmas.
She hypnotized him with her eyes and
grabbed his wrists, moving away from the tree without letting him go. “You’ll
keep it warm,” she whispered and started lowering herself to the snow in front
of a tombstone.
Hunter couldn’t care less about the
weather. What was getting a bit cold and wet when he’d get to fuck Asty again,
feel her hot body and her wet pussy. He was getting hard already, just thinking
about it. His hands traveled up her thick woolen stockings as he kneeled on her
long coat between her legs with a one-track mind.
Asty rolled her head back and rested it on
the ground. She pulled up her dress, revealing a strip of naked flesh and black
underwear. Her throat moved slightly, and she started a quiet chanting.
Hunter unzipped his pants and pulled them
slightly lower, uncaring about the cold around them, because things were about
to get heated. He put his hand over her shoulder to keep stable and let his
fingers trace her pussy through the fabric of her panties. She was getting wet
already. Bingo. “You ready for me, baby?” he whispered. “Do you want me to
chant something?” He’d rather not, but whatever.
Asty shook her head and blew out a cloud of
vapor. Never breaking her hypnotic chant, she reached down and pulled her
underwear aside, revealing those perfectly plump lips.
He leaned down to kiss her and lay down on
top, still holding some of his weight so he wouldn’t push on her belly. He
slipped his cockhead between her slick pussy lips with sex on his brain, but
when he let his lips explore all the way to her ear, he stilled, frozen to the
bone and freaked out by his own erection.
The engraving on the tombstone read:
Beelzebub
Horton
.
He got to his knees with a yelp. “What the
fucking fuck?”
Asty blinked, looking startled as she
raised herself on her elbows. Hunter didn’t waste time and pushed his still
hard dick back into his pants.
“It’s your brother’s grave!” Only when he
spoke, he realized his voice was shaking. “This is … no. Just
no
. Oh, my
God!”
Asty sat up and closed her coat. “I know.
Baby, calm down,” she said in a voice that was probably meant to be soothing
but only creeped him out further.
Hunter zipped up his pants. His whole body
was throbbing with the heat of adrenaline and fear. “What is wrong with you?
You want to have sex on your brother’s grave? Fucking hell! This is not on!”
And what was even more infuriating, she
looked at him the same way the priest used to look at him when his parents
decided to have someone “wiser than them” try to pull Hunter back into the arms
of the Church.
“Hunter, listen. I want him to be as
connected to the baby as possible. That’s why I wanted to get pregnant in the
first place.”
For a long moment, Hunter let that sink in as
the snow did into his jeans, but as his pants were getting wet, he didn’t
understand her even a tiny bit more. “What?”
Asty held on to his shoulder and leaned
forward, her face completely serious. “When my mother was dying, she was so
close to death that she could get in touch with demons on a whole new level.
And the many things she learned, she wrote down in a journal, and she gave it
to me just before she died. She couldn’t speak anymore, but her eyes were so
alert, so ...
intent
when she gave it to me. I knew she wanted me to
continue what she began, and when I started reading her notes, I understood
that she wanted me to bring him back. He died so violently, and my dad really
needs him. Neither Lucky nor I can replace him.” She swallowed and went on,
with her eyes getting slightly glossy in the moonlight. “He could come back,
but he needed to be born of a blood relative. I followed all the instructions,
and now, Bell’s gonna come back to us.”
It finally clicked, and Hunter looked down
to her belly. “In our baby? In our baby’s body? Your brother will come back as
our baby?” The last question came out high pitched, and he could hardly
breathe. He was living a nightmare. Asty wasn’t cute-crazy, she was
insane
,
and he hadn’t noticed, too focused on all the good sides that she had. He took
a deep breath to be able to speak again. “And where will the soul of our baby
go, huh?” He grabbed her arms and shook her.
Asty stiffened and looked at him utterly
confused, as if she hadn’t even considered that. “I ... I think they will
somehow merge.”
“You
think
?” He hissed and pulled
his hair back in frustration. Only now he got up and pulled her along, unable
to comprehend this whole concept was something that had been growing in her for
months, something that he missed despite taking part in all her crazy ventures.
“And that’s what the first ritual was about, wasn’t it?”
She nodded. “Please, don’t be angry. I need
you to listen. I know you will be an amazing father for him, but if you don’t
listen to me, then we will be parted once I’m gone. And I have to be gone so
that this baby can live,” she uttered.
Hunter wanted to scream and shake her again,
but he took a deep breath and contained that visceral reaction. He needed to go
along with this and listen. He needed to know what she was actually planning if
he was to stop it. “What do you mean ‘we will be parted?’” He couldn’t help the
childish fear at the pit of his stomach telling him they were both going to
hell for this. And then his brain was so angry at those thoughts. There was
only here and now, and she was living a lie.
A small smile ghosted across Asty’s lips,
and she stroked his chest. “Hunter ... I love you so much,” she whispered,
looking straight into his eyes, even as her own started tearing up. “But if I
want to complete the ritual, then I need to give my life so Bell’s soul can
live in the baby. There is no other way around it. And if you love me as well
and want to join me and the other enlightened, then you need to believe. When I
die, I will go to a place in hell guarded by demons. If you want to get there
in the future, when you leave this earth in many, many years, there are rituals
you will need to perform so that you can join us.”
That was it. Ridiculous. Disturbed.
Completely and utterly delirious. And if this sounded like crazy talk and made
no sense, then why did he still have hang-ups about hell, heaven, and patron
saints for every damn thing, who were no better than Asty’s patron demons. It
was all fucking made up, and he was done with it.
He took a deep breath and buttoned up her
coat with shaky fingers. “We’ll talk about this at the hotel, okay? It’s cold
here.” He could hardly keep himself from screaming when his mind pulsed with
the horrible truth. Asty wanted to die. He needed to take her somewhere safe
and not let her out of his sight.
Asty sniffed but eventually nodded and
sought out his hand. Was this some kind of depression after her mom’s death
that drove her to those beliefs? He was pretty sure she was not actually
mentally ill, as she had clarity about her beliefs being outside the norm and
acted normally in most situations. It was just her beliefs that were insane.
Just as misguided as the ancient Aztec belief that ripping people’s hearts out
would somehow keep the Apocalypse at bay. Just as silly as the notion that a
celestial being listens to your prayers. And if Asty was insane, then she had
the same kind of insanity as Hunter’s own mother.
Whatever it was, Hunter would not be
tempting fate, and he squeezed Asty’s fingers. They would get through it
together. He couldn’t hate her for what she was saying or planning. She sounded
so completely lost that it was painful to listen to her words. Even the love
confession now made him sad. Were her feelings even true, or were they some
aspect of her deep-seated issues? Would she still love him when he stood against
everything she believed in? He could only hope so as he held her close.
*
Asty was quiet all the way to the hotel and
clutched at Hunter’s hand as soon as he parked in the underground garage. Even
paler than she usually was, she followed Hunter’s lead to the elevator and then
down the corridor, all the way to their room. He had no idea what was going
through her head at this point. Was she disappointed by his initial reaction,
or maybe the fate of the baby’s soul finally settled on her conscience? It was
hard to tell. But knowing what she had been planning all along gave him the
kind of clarity he was missing for years.
They went into the room holding hands like
any other couple, but; however, what was on Hunter’s mind made him cringe. It
had to be done. He’d brought a pair of handcuffs in case Asty would be up for
some kinky fun later tonight, but in the end, their use wouldn’t give any of
them pleasure.
“Sit on the bed, okay? I’ll make you
coffee.” Once he had her on the mattress, it wouldn’t be that hard to cuff her
to the bedframe.
“Okay,” said Asty and pulled off her coat
and shoes before settling where Hunter told her to. She put her hands in her
lap and curled her shoulders, looking fragile and lost.
He made the coffee in silence and brought
it to her, to seem inconspicuous. But after he put it on the bedside table, he
leaned over her and reached under the pillow. In one swift move, he cuffed her
and then locked the other cuff on the headboard.
Asty blinked and pulled at the cuff,
suddenly waking up from her stupor. “What are you doing—”
He hated the tinge of fear in her voice,
but there was no other way around it. He grabbed her other hand before she
could act and cuffed it to the bedframe on the other side, so the most she
could do was rattle the cuffs.
“I’m sorry, baby, but this is for your own
good.” He pulled out some duct tape from his bag and ripped off a piece to
place it over her lips. Sadly, the vibrator he’d brought along wouldn’t be
getting any action tonight.
Asty blinked and pulled on the cuffs, but
the bedframe was steady, and there was no way she could break out of the handcuffs,
as those babies weren’t the sex-shop type but were meant for play. She’d be
staying here until Hunter came back for her.
Asty’s eyes were wide, and she screamed
into the tape, but it was a futile attempt. Hunter pulled the comforter over
her legs so she’d be warm and sat next to her, ashamed of what he just did,
despite his best intentions.