Flirting with Sin Ch. 04

"Trevor! It's... it's my mother! She's here! She's alive!" she cried, her eyes wide open in shock.

A terrible feeling wrenched my gut.

Looking through the bars past Alison's lowered ears, I saw a cell filled with gore and viscera like the others. Chained against the wall was a long-decomposed corpse, little remaining of it but red-stained bone. I put my hand on Alison's shoulder.

"Alison... There's no one there."

She turned to me with desperate eyes. "No! No, she's right there, can't you see her? She's in pain! We have to help her!"

Shuu'Vohsa looked in from behind us, then shook her head at Alison sadly. "There is no one, Miss Alison."

"Whoever was in this cell died a long time ago," I added somberly.

The demoness's eyes fell to the dungeon floor. One finger at a time, she withdrew her hands from the cell bars. "You're... you're right. Mother is dead. Mother died long ago. She's not here." She placed her hands on her shoulders, hugging herself and trembling for a moment. Then, she extended her claws and tore the robe to shreds. The discarded scraps fell away, Alison's pale skin and auburn fur lit red by the torches.

"Listen to me, Demon Hunter," Alison began, spoken through grit teeth. " I will never forsake the gift Mother gave me. You will have to kill me before that. I am going to take these claws, and I am going to tear out that man's heart. If there is a single pious bone in your body, you will help me."

XIII: The Chapel Beneath

The sound of Alison's paws hitting the obsidian floor carried off down the hall. I tried to call after her, but my voice caught in my throat.

"Alison, wai..."

The darkness swallowed up the sound. I drew in breath to shout, but my lungs seized and my throat burned. I coughed, gurgling on a sudden buildup of liquid in the back of my mouth. Gagging, I coughed it up into my hands--blood.

The torches flickered out, only smoldering crimson embers in their sconces. The blood flowing through the cracks in the stone below bubbled and popped, boiling hot. My temples were throbbing.

"V-Voh, something's not right..." I choked out. "Voh?"

The song demon was nowhere to be found. My only companions in the dark were the sounds of flickering embers and boiling blood.

Step by careful step, I felt along the wall, following the glowing torches. It was much too dark to see where I was going, but If I just retraced my steps and followed after Alison, I'd find my way back out. I was sure of it.

The blood sizzled and smoked on my boots. Drops of it trickled onto my robe from the ceiling. Soon the blood had pooled up around my ankles, steadily getting deeper. It was difficult to walk; chunks of viscera and gore littered the floor and with each step I had to kick them out of the way.

Sobbing and moans came from a cell down the hall, growing louder and louder the closer I drew. Inhuman wails that made my eardrums shudder and my head buzz with pain. The blood was getting deeper and as thick as mud; each step was a great effort.

Peering inside the cell, the softest glimpse of light from the fading torch near the cell door was enough. Inside, slathered in gore, was Alice chained to the wall. Her orange skin had dulled to a sickly brown and in several places was torn open, black blood falling away into the stew below. She cried out, her voice so terrible and agonizing I clutched my head in pain.

"Alice! What happened to you?! I-I'll get you out of there!" I called out to her, drawing the blade from my belt.

She looked up at me making an expression I couldn't quite see in the dark, but that I knew wasn't right. Not a frown, or a smile, not a face of despair or relief or fear or pain. Her eyes, tiny red lights staring from a void of black, looked into me and my stomach turned. There was no humanity in those eyes.

The rotten brown skin rolled off of her flesh. The muscles, green with decay, sank into the blood and boiled. There was no bone beneath them, but some kind of red pulsating mass that was tearing its way free from the inside. Alice's face melted away and in its place was something with no eyes, no nose, just a gaping maw of endless teeth. It snapped and bit at the chains restraining it, steaming slobber splashing all over its thin featureless limbs--nothing but claws at the end of its appendages.

The teeth sank into pulsating flesh, pus and blood oozing free from the wound, and it tore its arm free from the chains. Roaring and shaking, the mass pulled away from its other arm, struggling and convulsing, until its entire arm ripped free from the socket, the flesh tearing away. Now free and hyperventilating from that inhuman maw, it turned to the door and roared, the sound enough to rattle the cell bars.

The creature threw itself against the bars, the force enough to shake the enclosure. Plasma oozed from its flesh, a dark red bloody slime, splattered everywhere from the force of the blow. Again it crashed against the cell door, slobbering and screaming. The hinges fell loose and again it smashed its 'face' into the bars, knocking them cleanly away.

Frozen with primal terror, it was all I could do to draw the blade. As the disgusting pulsating mass of flesh and teeth threw itself upon me, I desperately thrust the blade forward and felt the steel sink into--

Nothing.

The cell was empty. There was no blood, no gore, nor any sign that anything other than dust and cobwebs had touched these hallways in untold eons. A single torch next to me was lit, casting a soft light into the hall. I drew it from the sconce and stared into the darkened blade in my hand.

Quiet. The sword's hunger had ceased. I was alone.

What...?

At the end of the hall, the corner turned to another hallway of empty cells and dust. I followed it as far as it went, but ended up facing a dead end. Thinking I must have gone the wrong way, I turned around and followed the corner back, which, curiously, did not turn the same way.

Did I miss a path somehow? Is there a third way?

Following the corridor back I should have eventually arrived at the path we came in from. There were only more empty cells. More cobwebs. Another dead end. This can't be right.

When I turned around to go back the way I came, I caught a glimpse of golden feathers disappearing behind the turn of the corner.

"Voh? Voh!"

I shouted down the corridor, dashing to the corner--but when I reached the turn and looked down the hall, there was no sign of anyone and nowhere they could have gone. Just more locked cells and another dead end.

When I returned to retrace my steps yet again, there was a new opening in the turn of the corner. A tiny hallway barely wide enough to squeeze through, like someone had dug a square hole in the wall. Pushing my way inside, I saw a door on the other end, wooden and decrepit.

There was barely enough room to squeeze through; my robe was scraping against stone on both sides. Inch by inch I pushed through, trying to reach the corridor with the door beyond. It was far enough away that I could just barely make it out in the faint light.

Ever in the distance. Far enough away that I could only just make it out. Squeezing and struggling, I inched along. It wasn't getting any closer.

I turned my head to look back on the way I'd come from. There was no path, only a brick wall behind me. Swiveling back to look at the door again, my nose banged against wood--the door was an inch from my face.

With great effort I turned the knob, rusted and resistant, and scraped the door along the stone floor to open, finally gaining enough purchase to stumble inside. I fell face first into the room and a bewildering sense of vertigo came over me as I plunged into absolute darkness.

There was no floor. The air rushed past me, the infinite dark of the abyss swallowed up my senses. I don't know how long I fell. Seconds, minutes, hours, it all blurred together in an insane, thoughtless rush. The air rushing past my ears deafened me. Would I ever stop falling? When did I start? At any moment a bottom would come, and my being would be crushed into a million pieces.

The past and present seemed to run together. At some point I stopped falling, but I couldn't say when, or if I had ever truly begun. I opened my eyes to see a circle of stone flooring in the radius of the torch's light, surrounded by endless black. There was a short flight of stairs in front of me.

The stairs carried me to a small platform above the darkness where a small wooden altar stood directly in the center, a golden cross standing atop it. There was, too, what appeared to be holy scripture, but the pages were a jumbled mess, the words and letters nonsensically scattered all over like the scribbling of a madman. I put my hand on it to turn the page and the holy symbols on my arm shocked my skin.

I was atop a platform overlooking a great expanse. Below me, a lake of fire stretched out in all directions without end. The flames melted into the horizon, an endless void, and gazing up the black threatened to swallow everything whole. Great masses of burning flesh walked the flames below, their bodies nothing but pulsating muscle and burning blood. Far below, I could make out endless pieces of human remains aflame, melting and twisting. On the edge of my perception were constant screams of pain and suffering, the muffled cries of souls in endless torment.

Inferno.

In the distance was a great structure, a hellish crimson ziggurat. Small pyramids dotted its surface with pockets of robed figures praying all around them. Hell Knights roamed the grounds freely and seemed to be taking orders from these acolytes. In large pens were corralled pink masses of flesh and teeth gorging themselves on human remains.

Chained to one of the pyramids was a naked figure; I could make out flecks of gold all around its being. A crowd of the infernal acolytes seemed to be chanting some incantation around it.

... It's Shuu'Vohsa.

My teeth felt like they might crack under the pressure of my jaw. I gripped the hilt of my sword like I meant to strangle it. Five bullets in the chamber of the magnum--before I was through, the gun would drink one of these bastards' blood.

Behind me a flight of stone stairs led down in a great spiral as far as I could see. A passage along the way took me to a balcony with a platform bridging the gap between the two buildings. If I was to cross it I'd be spotted easily, but there seemed to be no other way to reach Voh--the two structures were floating above the lake of flame below, held aloft by some satanic force.

Below the bridge was a very large cadaver, badly burnt by the flames. It wore a crown of thorns and its wrists were nailed into the side of the structure. It would stir and groan every now and again, no doubt kept from expiring by the tormentors here that it might suffer eternally.

There was a robed figure near the bridge staring into the fire below. Quietly I stepped through the shadows to approach the figure. It didn't seem to sense my presence, even as I leapt through the dark and forced Lightsbane through its abdomen.

No sound of wincing in pain or gurgling on its own blood. It merely went limp, the hood falling from its head.

Dull red skin. Horns. Empty white eyes. A satyr--a former human fully twisted by demonic Possession. It collapsed without so much as a sigh, but it was mouthing a series of incomprehensible words again and again even as it lay there dying. Some kind of incantation.

Across the way, a group of the robed figures were staring at me from beneath darkened hoods. A Hell Knight was crossing the bridge, one heavy step at a time. With sword and gun in hand I approached him, unafraid.

He is my sword, and He is my shield.

Grey-skinned with a goat's head and hooves, its gnarled limbs nothing but muscle. It lumbered toward me, shaking the stone passageway, smoke puffing from its large nostrils. There was no intelligence in its darkened eyes, it was all hatred and hunger. These creatures existed only to destroy and consume.

I held the blade to my chest, felt its unquenchable thirst for blood. For the first time, I gave in to it.

Bang! One bullet in its chest. It hardly winced. Another in its shoulder, which caused it to slightly recoil. Finally, a bullet in its left eye. It covered its eye with its hand and growled in pain, but continued its steady path toward me.

Swiping its great claws at me, it hit only air as I leapt backward and emptied the rest of the chamber into its face. Snorting and puffing, it stomped its hoof and charged at me.

With its massive hand it formed a fist and smashed it into the stone--I rolled between its enormous legs and shoved the sword into its spine. Both hands on the hilt, I carved it upwards through the monster's flesh, bellowing in righteous fury. The blade slid through its meat and bone like so much butter, cleaving it cleanly in two; gallons of boiling blood sprayed everywhere.

As the gore painted my body I held open the magnum's chamber and allowed it to drip into the barrel. The metal became hot to the touch; I felt something wet running over my fingers like an unseen appendage was trying to lap up the blood.

Another Hell Knight began across the bridge toward me, followed by a group of the pink masses of pulsating flesh and teeth. I pulled back the trigger--the barrel grew red-hot, blood bubbled inside the cylinder, there was a buildup of plasma at the business end. Finally, a gush of corrupted blood was ejected from the barrel, the recoil nearly enough to knock me over. It ripped through the bodies of the demons crossing the bridge; the Hell Knight's midsection exploded, sending its top half flying into the flames below, and the teeth from the masses of flesh flew in a million pieces in every direction.

Low chanting voices filled the air. Dark incantations and blood magic. Bolts of darkness flew toward me; pillars of flame rose to halt my advance. Swinging the sword through the concentrated dark cleaved it in twine and the soul gem swallowed it up into its lightless gloom. With a swift leap I crossed the gap cornering the bridge and the ziggurat on the other side.

Several of the satyrs raised their hands to stall me, their claws filled with bolts of darkness and blood. I wouldn't be able to dodge them all or stop all of them from hitting me--then a thought crossed my mind, forced its way into my consciousness by the bloodlust pulsating in my hand.

With Lightsbane lifted over my head and both hands on the grip, I brought the blade down on the crimson ziggurat's surface with all the strength my arms could muster, shattering the sword into several pieces. The chunks of the blade did not fall to the ground, but rather floated in the air around my body as if waiting to be commanded. I pointed the broken blade toward the group of satyrs and the chunks of steel flew at them like a hail of arrows, piercing their sternums and sinking into their guts.

I pulled the hilt back and the shards tore themselves free of the satyrs' bodies, the black blood dripping from the sword as it reformed in my grasp. Not a moment too soon, for mere seconds after it was back in my grasp, a pink mass of muscle and teeth was roaring toward me and biting at my legs.

Driving the blade into its mouth only seemed to irritate it. Growling and slobbering all over my arm, it pushed its way toward me even as the blade sunk further into its flesh.

Gripping the hilt and struggling, I saw Lightsbane changing inside the creature's maw. The sword was swelling, growing wider and wider until it split into a three-pronged splay of blades. It spread itself open, tearing through the creature's flesh, eliciting horrible gagging and gurgles. It jerked helplessly, burning bile pouring in an endless torrent from its opening all over my robes as I cleaved its 'head' from its body.

Nearby, Voh was strung up against the side of one of the pyramids. Blood was flowing from her wrists, dripping down her naked body to be collected in a depression in the stonework that drained away to be used in some foul ritual, fuel some wretched blood rite.

I struck her chains with the blade, shattering the links, and caught her as she fell. Gently I cradled her in my arm and lowered her to the ground. The songstress's golden lashes fluttered weakly open, her blue eyes vacant until they found focus on my face. She gave a frail smile, her bloody, trembling hand reaching for my cheek.

"Mister Trevor... you are not hurt," she managed, her voice a tiny whisper. "I am so, so glad..."

"I'm going to get you out of here, Voh," I promised, clasping her hand in mine.

"You... you look so worried," she squeaked quietly. "Do not worry, Trevor. I am here with you, now... I will protect you. No one will hurt you, so long as I am with you. So do not worry. Everything will be alright..."

Shuu'Vohsa's eyes fell shut and she went limp in my arms. A wave of panic shocked my spine; I put my ear to her chest--still breathing. She had merely passed out.

Bitterness washed over me. I knew it would turn out like this. I dragged her into this mess. I could have just put one between her eyes when I first met her, spared her all of this. If only she had stayed with Alice. If only she had stayed in the apartment. If only she had never gotten mixed up with me in the first place. God damn it!

I swore to myself, there on one knee holding the song demon's body close, that this would not be the end of her.

"Mea culpa," I whispered to her.

How very foolish of me, I thought. How fickle I am. I could laugh, if I wasn't surrounded by hellspawn and burning bodies. I had known this dumb little bird for such a short time and grown so shamelessly attached to her dimwitted nature. Not so long ago I would have shot her dead without a second thought.

I hoisted Shuu'Vohsa up over my shoulder and returned the sword to my belt. Looking around, there were yet more of the pink masses of flesh and satyrs inching toward me. I rolled up my sleeve to show the heretic bastards the burning symbols on my arm. No devil's sin-drenched slave would stop me from carrying Voh out of this terrible place.

The magnum was burning hot. Blood trickled from the barrel and spilled over my fingers with each shot. I made a mad dash for the darkened tunnel at the far end of the ziggurat that lead to what appeared to be the inner sanctum, the fleshy bags of muscle and teeth lunging at me all the while.

When I reached the tunnel, the sounds of growling and biting ceased. The light of the lake of fire rising into the horizon quickly faded from view and I was surrounded by endless black.

XIV: His Holy Duty

A large brazier burst into flame before me. Hellish runes on the stone floor came to life, an eerie red glow in a circle around the fire. From the fire's light I could make out what appeared to be a service room, albeit twisted and absurd.

There was a stage with an altar, a large obsidian cross behind it. It was a blasphemer's inverted symbol, and some kind of noxious black ooze was flowing from an unseen orifice. It was leaking into a series of bloodstained cracks in the stage and floor. The cracks were deep, cratering around the altar like some terrible beast had been sealed directly below, its veiled abyss barely concealed by the blasphemous symbol.

On the stage and behind the altar was what had the figure of a man but its face was all wrong. Like a tight sheen of skin had been pulled over a man's head--I could make out the sunken eye sockets, the nostrils bereft of flesh, the gaping maw underneath the sickening dead skin, pockmarked and scarred. The thing was dressed in a long, flowing golden robe, but there were no arms, no legs. Extending from its sleeves were a series of very long appendages that trailed away onto the floor like great thick boneless fingers, writhing and undulating beneath the horrifying visage.