The Sorceress (28 page)

He was standing in front of the toilet, holding his big boner.
Eew!
Jen grimaced and glanced away and kept a safe distance. After that last incident, she didn't want to place herself in the line of fire. “Did you tinkle?” she muttered, her lips pinched together in disgust.

“Hey, kid, did you tinkle?” she repeated in a raised voice. Though she definitely didn't expect or welcome an answer, Ethan had a way of responding. One way would be to start urinating if he hadn't or, if he'd finished, then he would tuck his pecker back inside his underwear.

She crept up behind him with her eyes squinted, trying to determine if the water in the bowl was tinted yellow. His breathing pattern suddenly changed and his small shoulders rose and fell rapidly in time with the tempo of his appalling wheezing. This was not a good sign.

Ethan spun around and stared at her sullenly. His gaze narrowed; a menacing glint surfaced, replacing the vacant look that was usually in his eyes.

Jen shot an alarmed glance downward and went cold with dread. She wanted to run but she couldn't move. She felt frozen in place.

“Did…you…uh…tinkle?” she stammered.

“Not yet!” he responded in a terrible voice that sounded gravelly and ancient.

Her limbs loosened in response to her brain's desire to take flight. “Carmen!” Jen cried, keeping an eye on the menacing child while she quickly backed away. The boy, his expression deadly, his temples pulsing in rage, paced toward her, his steps hastening as he aimed his penis as threateningly as if he were pointing a gun.

“No! Don't!” Jen tried to run but tripped over the sash of her robe, which had come undone.

Expecting at any moment to feel the hot splash of urine, Jen grimaced and curled into a ball on the floor.

But she felt something else. The vibration of footsteps bounding up the stairs.
Carmen?
No, the footsteps were much too heavy—so heavy the house seemed to shake. Felt like more than
one person was running up the stairs.
Lizzy and Carmen?
she thought hopefully.
No, not Lizzy either
. The maid was a tiny thing; she couldn't make the house quake—and she had the day off. Besides Carmen, there was no one else inside the house.

Ethan's wheezing escalated to his piercing scream. A shock of fear made Jen's heart double its rhythm.
Oh, shit. An episode.
She needed help. “Carmen?” she called aloud, her voice squeaky with panic. She came out of the fetal position, propped herself up on an elbow, her neck stretched in the direction of the pounding sound that was growing closer.

Unbelievably, from her vantage point on the floor, she saw slender ebony-colored female feet. Rushing past the ebony feet and with a furious pounding were a pair of something thick, furry, and clawed. Something that could only be described as…a pair of hooves.

E
than stopped screaming. The room became ominously silent. Then there was a strange and unfamiliar rumbling…like the hoofed animal was growling deep in its throat, ready to attack.

Jen scooted back and slithered under Ethan's bed, hoping she hadn't been detected. Trembling, she prayed the boy would start wailing again. His ear-piercing shriek might scare off the barefoot woman and the wild beast she'd brought with her.

“Hello, Xavier. Well, look at you.” The woman's voice was tinged with amusement.

Holy shit! Xavier!
That was the name Ethan had called himself. The urge to get up and run like hell was overpowering, but she shook so badly, she didn't risk trying to make a half-cocked escape.

“Childhood does not become you, my friend.”

“I agree. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in this tiny human frame and I need your help. That's why I brought you here. You wanted to get out of your ghastly dwelling and I assisted you.

“Is that your governess, huddling beneath the bed?” the woman asked with a bored sigh.

Shit!
She'd been spotted. Jen had hoped for a miracle.

“Not anymore,” Ethan replied ominously.

“Poor thing's trembling so bad, the bed is quaking. I think she's afraid.”

“As she should be,” Ethan answered in his raspy voice. “I'm furious that you brought that growling fiend. He wasn't in the plan.” Ethan changed the subject as if Jen's terrified presence was of little consequence.

“As I said, he's my protection,” the woman answered. The growling sound intensified as if the hooved beast was ready to maim on the woman's behalf.

“Protection?” the boy echoed, outraged. “From what?”

“From you. And anyone else who would seek to harm me.”

“Oh, yea of little faith. Wicked One, you have to learn to trust me. I'm insulted.”
Wicked One? What in the name of God is going on?
Jen wondered.

“I know you, Xavier. You are the most deceitful spirit I've ever encountered. You are the last soul I'd trust,” the woman said. Oddly, her scathing accusation came out sounding like a compliment.

“I'm no more deceitful than you. So, there. It's out in the open. You and I will put the past behind us and become partners again. We have lots to accomplish. Lots of planning to do. First things first. You can't go around naked. You need clothing. My mother has an extensive wardrobe. Help yourself.”

“What about Boozer? He'll need attire as well,” the woman said.

Ethan snorted. “Boozer's a beast. There's nothing in this house that will fit him.”

“We'll hire a tailor.”

There was that awful growl again, scratching through the air like it had emerged from a throat filled with razor blades.

“That ogre is disgusting. Take a good look at what you dragged from the Dark Realm.” Ethan scolded. “It's barely human. It won't fit in around here; it needs to return to hell. I'm sending it back.”

“You'll do no such thing,” the woman said firmly. “I need him.”

“You don't need that creature. You have me!”

“You're a child,” she scoffed.

“He's a beast; the sight of that thing will cause humans to shriek in horror. How can I exact revenge against my parents with that fiend lumbering about? It's not likely that he'll go undetected. Did it occur to you that you can't drag a mortal who has been cast to the Dark Realm back to earth and expect it to retain its human appearance?”

“You were once mortal.”

“I came back through the birth canal and have the appearance of a normal human.”

Eris gave him a sidelong look. “Normal? I wouldn't go that far. Besides, you didn't arrive through a typical birth. You slipped inside an unsuspecting fetus and stole its life.”

The boy smirked. “Merely semantics. Unlike that monster you yanked from hell, my natural birth cannot be disputed. Being a goddess and all, I thought you were of superior intelligence. I'm starting to doubt your wisdom and cunning. Didn't it occur to you that Boozer wouldn't fit in?”

“I'll keep him hidden from sight.”

The boy snorted. “Hidden? Where do you propose to hide that thing? Boozer is gigantic—pretty hard to miss.”

Jen could hear the padding of Ethan's small feet as he paced. “Wicked One, Wicked One,” he said with strained patience. “For someone who claims to be a wise goddess, you repeatedly make foolish choices. Aren't you weary of getting torched and burned to a crisp every time you return to earth?” He gave a malicious chuckle.

“Don't remind me. Boozer stays. And I won't be burned again… not with Boozer protecting me.”

“And where do you suggest we conceal your… uh, security guard?”

“I discovered a false floorboard in the cellar that leads down to a secret dungeon. I doubt if the owners of this home know it's there.”

Jen groaned inwardly. The conversation between the boy and the scary woman was going from bad to worse. The air was thick with evil. She would have never imagined that evil had an odor. But it did. The stench was so God-awful, Jen fought to hold her breath. She lost the battle when she drew in a strangled burst of air, bringing undesired attention her way.

“Governess!” the woman said sharply. She stalked over to the bed and kicked beneath bed ruffle, jabbing Jen in the side. It wasn't painful but Jen understood the implied threat. It was time to crawl out and come face-to-face with a trio of monsters— Ethan included.

Cold fingers of terror clutched at Jen. It occurred to her to start banging her head against the hardwood floor and succumb to merciful darkness until help arrived. But the woman kicked her again before she could put her plan in motion. Feeling sick to her stomach, Jen prepared herself for the worst.

Not wanting to rush the inevitable horror that hovered above her, Jen moved in slow motion, raising her head as slowly as possible. What she wouldn't give to click her heels and be back in her dreary hometown.

She'd give anything to have a lengthy conversation with her boring parents; she'd hang on to their every uninteresting word. If only she could escape this horror, she'd rejoin her family and make peace with the humdrum rural life she'd fled.

With that promise to herself, Jen uncovered her head, sat up, and reluctantly opened her eyes. She drew in several startled, deep breaths.

Ethan, with his privates tucked back inside his blue pajamas, stood over her. The coal-black woman from Piper's Bridge was with him and she was still naked. Jen couldn't help but notice that she appeared very comfortable in her nudity. The female apparition had the form and substance of a living person. Her cobalt blue eyes flickered in anger.

“What an ill-mannered governess you are. Get up and make yourself useful. Search every closet and storage place until you find something suitable for Boozer to wear!” The woman was accustomed to giving orders. Her tone held more than a hint that a tragic consequence would befall anyone who didn't adhere to her demands swiftly.

“Yes, ma'am. I'll look everywhere.” The tremor in Jen's voice made her words indecipherable. Compensating, she nodded her head, conveying her willingness to cooperate. She did not want any trouble and would do whatever she was asked to do.

Actually, she planned to flee the moment she was out of that scary woman's eyesight. She'd run screaming all the way down the driveway. Once she got outside the gate, she'd flag down a vehicle; bogart her way inside some unsuspecting motorist's car. She'd plead with her rescuer to call the police or, better yet, drop her off at the nearest bus depot.

The police would most likely drag her back to the household to identify the perpetrators. And that wasn't going to happen. Once free, there was no way she was going back inside to rejoin these goons from hell—not even with police protection. She wanted to be safe and sound in her parents' warm and welcoming home.

She imagined herself living quietly and peacefully with her parents…like, forever. The vision wasn't that bad. Compared to her current situation, living in a calm, rural community was a very appealing lifestyle.

Jen accidentally cut an eye at Boozer and wished she hadn't. Boozer was the most grotesque creature she'd ever seen. It turned out that she hadn't been hallucinating last night. Boozer was the same hideous fiend that had grinned at her from the skylight. It hadn't been a figment of her imagination.

It was real and was here in the house.

And it was atrociously huge.

Up close, it was even more gross-looking than seeing it in the skylight. The beast named Boozer had a grayish complexion and grizzly tufts of fur jutting out of different parts of its malformed body. It was naked and was like…partially human…and partially beast.

She tried not to look at the thing's groin, but involuntarily, her eyes wandered in that direction and she gasped. Boozer's dick was gigantic. And covered with fur…like an animal's genitals.

Boozer's tongue slipped in and out of his mouth, vigorously licking at feral lips, while a trail of spittle ran down his chin.
Eew!
Each tongue flick delivered promises of unspeakable sexual acts.

What had she been thinking? She'd known from the start that Ethan was a weirdo. She should have run for her life the first time she'd witnessed him having one of his ghastly episodes. She could see it all so clearly now. Both Ms. Provost and the senator had used her. They never intended to get her a position on Capitol Hill.

Did the Provosts have a clue that their son was not autistic…that he wasn't even a child? And very possibly, Ethan or Xavier, or whoever he was, wasn't really even completely human? No, of course they didn't know their progeny was a demon out for revenge. Had they known, surely they would have done the right thing and drowned him at birth.

And while the Provosts were out on the stump, smiling and waving to adoring crowds, Jen was trapped in their lunatic son's bedroom with a couple of his friends—ghouls he'd personally summoned straight from hell.

Jen suddenly inhaled a breath of hope. Ethan's grudge was against his parents…not her. She was innocent and had nothing to do with any of this. Maybe he'd let her go.