light.
Bones heard the whimpers before he saw the other thing in the room.
It had been hiding in the corner and now it half-crawled, half-walked out into the middle of the room.
Bones stared at the thing, trying to figure out what it was. It looked like it had once been human. There was something about it that reminded him of the Elephant Man in that creepy black and white movie he had seen as a child. It just didn’t look right. It was like it had all human parts but they were put on all wrong. Its arms dangled limply away from its body. It wore only a tattered old loin cloth of sorts. Knobs ran up its ribs. Its toes curved more out than in while the feet themselves seemed to be going in the opposite directions.
“What do you think of it?” Ernst asked.
Bones didn’t know what to say. He thought it was horrible but he didn’t know if that was what Ernst wanted to hear. He knew he was already on thin ice and he wanted to think carefully about any questions he was going to answer.
Ernst supplied the answer for him. “Hideous, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you know who that is?”
“I have no idea.”
“That is the last person who messed up.”
A sharp spike of terror jabbed at Bones’ spine. His throat closed. His heart shimmied. It was like the whole illusion he had been led to believe was now shattered and he wanted to get as far away from it as he possibly could.
“The last person we trusted,” Ernst said.
Run , he thought.
He could still do that, couldn’t he? Sure, he had never seen Ilya or Ernst move in any way other than that creepy crawly horror movie villain style and he thought if he just turned and bolted then he would be able to make it safely out of the house and into the night and then he could get into his van and disappear completely. Forget he had ever seen the Devils. If he could just get to the van then he could get away from all this. Ernst and Ilya didn’t have a van. If he could get there then he had absolutely no doubt he could find safety and freedom somewhere.
Or he could go after Ilya. Leap on her. Press his nose against her scent. Ram his hand up that dress and feel the magic between her legs.
His muscles tightened and he turned, legs already bending to charge ahead.
He ran into Ernst who felt as hard as rock and fell down to the ground, onto the actual rock. Not much difference. Somehow Ernst had managed to position himself in front of the door faster than Bones could have imagined anyone moving.
Ernst bent down and pulled him up, whispering into his ear.
“You didn’t want this to be your fate, did you?”
“No. God no,” Bones slobbered. All sanity had left his head with the thought of becoming like that thing behind him. And he could see it happening. He knew, in that instant, that he was absolutely nothing to Ilya and Ernst. Little more than a slave.
“I know. It hardly seems fair, does it? But think about it, Mr. Latch needs to eat too. Isn’t that right, Mr. Latch?”
“Eeeeeat,” the thing grumbled from behind him, drool running down what passed as the thing’s chin.
“We have other things planned for you. But, as you may realize by now, you are not just a body, you are also a spirit. Mr. Latch needs some of your body and we need some of your spirit.”
Ernst tossed Bones back toward the creature. Bones wanted to fight but Ernst kept talking and the entire time he talked, Bones could feel him reaching into his brain or something, shutting down all of the mechanisms that made him want to kick and scream. While he felt Ernst reaching in, he felt the thing’s hands and mouth all over his body. He heard the popping of his skin just under Ernst’s whisperings. He felt strips of his skin being pulled away from his body as his head was shoved down onto the floor, there to sniff up this creature’s excrement and piss scent.
“Mr. Latch failed us many years ago,” Ernst
Bones heard the whimpers before he saw the other thing in the room.
It had been hiding in the corner and now it half-crawled, half-walked out into the middle of the room.
Bones stared at the thing, trying to figure out what it was. It looked like it had once been human. There was something about it that reminded him of the Elephant Man in that creepy black and white movie he had seen as a child. It just didn’t look right. It was like it had all human parts but they were put on all wrong. Its arms dangled limply away from its body. It wore only a tattered old loin cloth of sorts. Knobs ran up its ribs. Its toes curved more out than in while the feet themselves seemed to be going in the opposite directions.
“What do you think of it?” Ernst asked.
Bones didn’t know what to say. He thought it was horrible but he didn’t know if that was what Ernst wanted to hear. He knew he was already on thin ice and he wanted to think carefully about any questions he was going to answer.
Ernst supplied the answer for him. “Hideous, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you know who that is?”
“I have no idea.”
“That is the last person who messed up.”
A sharp spike of terror jabbed at Bones’ spine. His throat closed. His heart shimmied. It was like the whole illusion he had been led to believe was now shattered and he wanted to get as far away from it as he possibly could.
“The last person we trusted,” Ernst said.
Run , he thought.
He could still do that, couldn’t he? Sure, he had never seen Ilya or Ernst move in any way other than that creepy crawly horror movie villain style and he thought if he just turned and bolted then he would be able to make it safely out of the house and into the night and then he could get into his van and disappear completely. Forget he had ever seen the Devils. If he could just get to the van then he could get away from all this. Ernst and Ilya didn’t have a van. If he could get there then he had absolutely no doubt he could find safety and freedom somewhere.
Or he could go after Ilya. Leap on her. Press his nose against her scent. Ram his hand up that dress and feel the magic between her legs.
His muscles tightened and he turned, legs already bending to charge ahead.
He ran into Ernst who felt as hard as rock and fell down to the ground, onto the actual rock. Not much difference. Somehow Ernst had managed to position himself in front of the door faster than Bones could have imagined anyone moving.
Ernst bent down and pulled him up, whispering into his ear.
“You didn’t want this to be your fate, did you?”
“No. God no,” Bones slobbered. All sanity had left his head with the thought of becoming like that thing behind him. And he could see it happening. He knew, in that instant, that he was absolutely nothing to Ilya and Ernst. Little more than a slave.
“I know. It hardly seems fair, does it? But think about it, Mr. Latch needs to eat too. Isn’t that right, Mr. Latch?”
“Eeeeeat,” the thing grumbled from behind him, drool running down what passed as the thing’s chin.
“We have other things planned for you. But, as you may realize by now, you are not just a body, you are also a spirit. Mr. Latch needs some of your body and we need some of your spirit.”
Ernst tossed Bones back toward the creature. Bones wanted to fight but Ernst kept talking and the entire time he talked, Bones could feel him reaching into his brain or something, shutting down all of the mechanisms that made him want to kick and scream. While he felt Ernst reaching in, he felt the thing’s hands and mouth all over his body. He heard the popping of his skin just under Ernst’s whisperings. He felt strips of his skin being pulled away from his body as his head was shoved down onto the floor, there to sniff up this creature’s excrement and piss scent.
“Mr. Latch failed us many years ago,” Ernst
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