NecroWitch

Tim Miller

Copyright © 2016 Tim Miller

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. The following is a work of fiction. Any representation of any actual persons living or dead is coincidental.

Cover Model: Dominique Skye

Cover photo edited by Paco Leyva

Chapter 1

“Holy fuck that feels good!” the man said as Sable Reyes stood over him. The man was Ted, one of her clients. He lay strapped to the bed as she slowly pumped up the butt plug. This was an item she’d made herself. It was just a long tube with a thick rubber attachment on the end that acted as a balloon. She’d inserted the deflated attachment into his asshole and begun pumping away.

Ted was a bit of a freak. The guy was a school teacher during his day job. Unlike many of her clients, he had no problem spilling his guts to her. He was married, had three kids and one more on the way. His wife had always been extremely vanilla. Over the years, he had tried sharing some of his exotic appetites with her, only to be met with revulsion. After a few tries, he’d given up. That was when he’d looked up Sable and found her through her website. Sable was a full-service dominatrix. Her level of intensity was totally up to the client.

Some clients just wanted a hand job. Those weren’t her favorite, but she’d do it. Anyway, her schedule had gotten so full it’d led to a substantial rate increase. As a result, she didn’t get as many simple requests, except a few here and there from long time clients. She was worth it, and they knew it and paid up. She had a few couples who came in and she’d coach the girl in her own dominatrix training. Those sessions were a lot of fun and paid really well.

Then there were guys like Ted. Ted enjoyed being humiliated and having things shoved up his ass. Some days she’d make him wear a diaper and crawl around following her saying “yes mommy.” If he was good, she’d let him suckle from her breast. In recent weeks, she had inserted cucumbers in his ass, jalapenos, tampons, dildos and even a gerbil, but the last had scratched him too much so she’d had to pull it out. The butt plug pump was new but was working perfectly.

Her outfit was her standard uniform. Full leather corset, with her breasts exposed. Her body was curvy. Some might call her full figured, but she didn’t care. Her clients loved her body and most importantly, she loved her body so that was that.

“Ok, I think that’s good,” he said as she continued pumping. After a few more pumps. “Ok. That’s good. That’s enough! Ow!”

“Enough? Is it?”

“Ow! Fuck! Shit! Oh yeah! Pickle! Pickle!”

Pickle was his chosen safe word. She stopped pumping and let the air out of the device before removing it. She walked to the corner and dropped it into a bucket of bleach. She’d rinse it off later.

“Can you finish me off?” Ted asked gesturing toward the center of his body with his head. She looked and saw he had a raging hard-on.

“No,” she said as undid his straps. “Time is up.”

“Oh man! Can I pay for another hour?”

“Not today hun. I got an appointment after this.”

“Aw fuck. Can I just finish it myself?”

“Go for it. Just make it quick.”

Once his hand was free he began playing with his boner as she undid his feet and moved around her apartment picking up clothes and other tools she hadn’t put away throughout the day. Behind her, she could hear the smack! Smack! Smacking sound of Ted beating his meat while he grunted. With a loud grunt and moan, he climaxed just as she removed her corset and pulled on a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. Without looking at him, she tossed him a towel and went into the bathroom to wash off her excess makeup.

When Ted finished like this at the end, she didn’t want to give him any additional attention. For one thing, his time was up but also, he’d find a way to drag things out indefinitely if she didn’t just cut him off. When she went back in, Ted was getting dressed and digging into his wallet. He took out a handful of hundreds and handed them to her.

“Here you go, Sable. Thank you again.”

“You bet.”

Once he was gone she waited a few minutes before grabbing her duffel bag and leaving herself. There had been a few times a client had tried to follow her. While none of them scared her, she still valued her privacy. She put an end to that really fast. She walked to the corner where a black Escalade pulled up and a man climbed out and opened the door.

“You’re on time today,” he said.

“Yeah. I’m working on it.”

He said nothing during the length of the drive. She didn’t even know the guy’s name, even though he was the same one who picked her up each time. It had been a couple months since they’d last asked for her services. She was starting to think they’d gone soft. They arrived at the house and pulled around to the alley in back. The house was a rundown home on the city’s east side. The owner lived in a much nicer place but owned dozens of houses just like this one. Much lower profile for meetings, plus he wouldn’t mess up his own living room.

They walked inside where Santiago Esteban was waiting. He was one of the top dogs for a cartel. She wasn’t sure which one and didn’t want to know. How they’d found each other was a strange story. He’d been a former client when he discovered her gift. Despite her reluctance, he was able to talk her into working for him. The amount he paid was insane. More than she made from her usual work in a month. Except his jobs weren’t as regular, though they could be. She chose not to work for him full time, despite his offers. The last thing she wanted was to be bogged down with a full-time job and full-time boss. Not to mention she enjoyed being a dominatrix. This job, not so much.

When she stepped into the room, Santiago was standing in the center of the room next to a table with a body bag resting on top. Esteban wore a suit, with his shiny black hair pulled back into a ponytail, and smiled as she stepped inside.

“Sable! So nice seeing you again. It’s been awhile. You never call,” he said.

“You got my number. Schedule a session if you miss me.”

He laughed and looked at one of his goons standing nearby.

“God, I fuckin’ love this girl.”

“This is the one I take it?” she said, pointing at the body.

“You see any other dead guys in here?”

“Unless you want to off your buddy there and have me work on him. You’ve done that before.”

The smile vanished from the goon’s face as he looked stunned at Sebastian, who was laughing.

“That was crazy! Also a unique situation. So no, I won’t be killing Jose today.”

She set her bag down, unzipped the body bag, and pulled it open. Bending down, she dug through her bag, took out her switchblade and opened the blade, inserted it into the dead man’s stomach, and cut him open from his navel to his ribs. Putting the blade aside, she pulled the incision open and pulled out his intestines. She held them in her hand and closed her eyes. After a minute, the dead man’s eyes shot open as he gasped for air.

“Oh my God!” the man said looking around. “Who are you? What are you doing to me? Fuck, that hurts! My God! Please stop hurting me! I was just about to cross over. Let me go back! Let me go back!”

“Shut up,” she said. “I need some information from you. Give me what I need and I’ll stop and you can cross. Don’t tell me and I’ll make this hurt like nothing you’ve ever felt before. And when I’m done, I can send you straight to hell. You choose.”

Chapter 2

Henry J. Thomas stood in the warehouse repeatedly checking the time. Spider was late. He hated fucking Spider. He mostly hated anyone who called themselves Spider. In his years working the streets, he’d come across at least fifty guys named fucking Spider. They were as unimaginative as they were stupid. Henry owned a local pawn shop which he also used to fence stolen goods while dealing some drugs on the side.

Spider was supposed to be there with some heroin a while ago. Henry was about to leave when the car pulled up. Spider came strolling inside with a couple of goons carrying a duffel bag. Spider stood looking at him as he ran his hand across his shaved head. Henry wasn’t impressed with the tough guy act. Not surprisingly, Spider happened to have a huge tattoo of a spider on his neck. Lately, he’d been growing more and more impatient dealing with these assholes and wanted nothing more than to break away from the cartel guys entirely. Except, he knew there was no walking away from these guys. Once you were in, you were in.

Over the past few months, he’d looked at some different avenues, hoping to find a way out. So far he’d had no luck. Yet he’d recently discovered he had a special gift. So far, he hadn’t tried it out under duress. He first learned of it under a strange set of circumstances. He realized how useful it could be if he could harness it.

“You’re late,” Henry said.

“I don’t think so. You’re early.”

“Right. So you have the stuff?”

“Yeah I got it. But we got a problem,” Spider said.

Henry rolled his eyes.

“What problem is that?”

“The price went up. You know, convenience fees.”

“Convenience fees? Are you fucking shitting me?”

“I’m afraid so. Twenty-five percent.”

“Are you kidding me? You’re out of your fucking mind. You can shove your dope up your greasy fucking ass.”

“You might want to watch how you talk to me.” Spider stood holding the bag, sticking his chest out with his head held high. Henry looked around to see his two goons with their hands in their jacket pockets. No doubt they each had a gun in that pocket.

“Whatever man. I’m not paying no twenty-five percent. I think you been doing too much of your own dope.” Henry turned and walked away.

“Hey! Where you think you’re going?”

“I’m leaving.”

“I don’t think so.” His goons stepped forward and drew their guns. Henry turned and looked as they all glared at him. “We got us an agreement. You stick to the agreement!”

“Yeah, we agreed to a price.”

“I set the price. You pay the price. That’s how this works. Or my boys here shoot your nuts off.”

Henry looked around, assessing the situation. He was already paying out the ass for the drugs. Let alone adding another twenty-five percent on top of the already exorbitant price. He could barely afford it as it was. Paying that much more would put him out of business in a hurry.

“So you gonna pay?”

Henry took a step forward and looked at the gunman closest to him. It only took a single glance into the man’s eyes and instantly he knew.

“Hey there, Julian is it? That’s your name?” Henry asked the gunman.

“Man don’t you be saying my fuckin’ name! How the fuck you know that?”

“Wow. Your dad used to beat the shit out of you really good, huh?”

“What did you just say?”

Henry took a step closer as the other two men looked on.

“Your dad. Shoved a curling iron up your ass when you were only six. Man, that’s harsh. I bet you still don’t shit right.”

“Man! I’m about to pop you right now!”

Henry held up his hand as the man’s eyes grew wide while the gun shook in his hand.

“I don’t think you’ll do that.”

“What are you doing to me?” The thug said as he dropped the gun and fell to his knees.

“All your pain and suffering, and trust me there is a lot you’ve suffered.” Henry twisted his hand around as he spoke, holding his palm out at Julian who was now crying. “Let’s just say I can put it all into a single mental bullet. All I need to do is read your thoughts for a few seconds, absorb all your pain.” He pulled his hand back and curled it into a fist. “Put it into a nice mental ball, and fire!” He thrust his fist into Julian’s direction. He let out a scream as he fell backward and blood sprayed from both ears.

“What the fuck is going on?” Spider yelled. “Shoot his ass!”

Henry turned and looked at both men, holding both hands up. Spider reached for his gun, but it fell to the floor as Henry thrust his fist in the air, knocking Spider back. The back of Spider’s head exploded as it bounced off the floor, brains oozing from both ears and the new opening in back. Henry looked up at the last gunman who held his hands out.

“Hold on man! Hold on! Don’t shoot, or zap me, or whatever!” He bent down and set the gun on the floor. “I just work for these guys. I hate working for them. Let me work for you. Please? I got no beef with you.”

“Why shouldn’t I kill you right now?”

“I could have shot you, man. I had the drop on you, but I didn’t. I saw what you just did. I work for the cartel because they’re the baddest motherfuckers around. But that’s not true no more. You are. I want to work for you.”

Henry took a moment to consider this. He hadn’t been sure this would work as well as it had. He had some exploring to do with this new ability.

“Ok, good. Pick up your gun. You try and use it on me you know what will happen.”

“I got it.”

“You’re Jimmy right?”

“Yeah. Jimmy. How’d you…oh right.”

Henry picked up the bag of drugs and looked around.

“Either of these clowns have any cash?”

“Uhh, not that I know of? Spider might have some.”

“Get it.”

Jimmy bent down and dug through Spider’s pockets. There as a wad of cash in a money clip in one pocket. Jimmy removed it and tossed it to Henry. He removed the clip and opened it up. It was two hundred dollar bills with a stack of ones rolled up inside. Henry shook his head and stuffed it into his pocket as he looked around examining the bodies.

“You got a knife on you?” Henry asked.

“Uh, like a pocket knife. It’s a big one, but yeah. Why?”

“Let me see it.”

Jimmy removed the knife and flipped the blade open. It was a good sized, sharp knife with a four-inch blade. Henry nodded at Spider’s body.

“Cut off their heads.”

“What?” Jimmy asked.

“Take the knife, and cut off their fucking heads.”

“Why? What the hell, man?”

“You want to test out my little trick? I can have your brain oozing out of your ears before you can lunge at me. So what will it be?”

Jimmy looked at the bodies, shrugged, and knelt down to begin the process of severing Spider’s head. It took about twenty minutes with the small knife. It wasn’t as messy as Henry thought it would be, but since he was already dead, his blood wasn’t pumping. It just sort of oozed out of the fresh stump into a small puddle. Jimmy handed Spider’s head to Henry. Before taking the head, Henry undid his pants and slid them down. The whole incident had him oddly aroused for some reason. He wasn’t sure if it was because of his new power, or if it was just the excitement of having that kind of control. Either way, he had a raging boner that wouldn’t quit. During his less deadly practice sessions on his employees, there had been some level of arousal, but nothing like this.

Henry took the head and slid his penis inside the stump. It was tight, warm, and squishy. Jimmy cringed as he watched Henry skull fucking Spider’s severed head.

“What the fuck are you doing, man? What’s wrong with you?”

Henry ignored him and kept pumping away as he grew harder and harder, feeling the gory tissue slapped against his crotch. Soon the pleasure overwhelmed him, and he ejaculated inside the head. His eyes rolled back into his head as he climaxed, squeezing off every drop of jizz inside Spider’s skull. Once he finished, he tossed it aside and looked at Jimmy.

“Ok, now do the other one.”

While Henry finished skull fucking the other head, Jimmy went into the corner and threw up. Once Henry was done, he pulled up his pants and walked over to Jimmy.

“Ok, champ. Let’s get out of here. I think I’ll let you drive me.”

“Sure, Mr. Thomas.” Thank God.

They walked outside and climbed into Henry’s Jeep. It was ten years old but ran ok. If today was a sign of his luck changing, he’d be upgrading real soon.

Chapter 3

Sable sat across from Maria, playing with her salad. She wasn’t really eating it, more like stabbing it with her fork, over and over. She had changed out of her usual work clothes and now wore a gray hoodie and jeans. Much more comfortable to get around in. Maria had been her friend since school and was one of the few people who knew about both of Sable’s jobs. She still had on her scrubs from her nursing job.

“I’m just not hungry,” Sable said.

“I wouldn’t be either after handling some dead guy’s guts. You did wash your hands good right?”

Sable held up her hands and waved them at Maria.

“Yes, bitch! They’re clean! You see bloody chunks dripping into my salad?”

“Might make it taste better.”

“Then you eat it.” Sable picked out a crouton and threw it at her friend.

“Don’t throw your shit at me! Damn!” Maria jumped up and flicked the bread chunk off her seat. “What’s with you anyway? You seem all down. Didn’t the job today pay that good?”

“No. It paid great. I’m just worried about mom.”

“Oh yeah. She doing bad again?”

“That last round of chemo really fucked her up. She’s been so weak and tired.”

“How many more times does she have to go back?”

“Once or twice. She doesn’t want to. She’s about to quit it all together. Told me she’d rather die than go through that again.”

“Fuck. How’s the cancer?”

“Won’t know until after the last round. I’m afraid it may have moved into her liver already.”

Maria reached across and took her hand.

“It hasn’t.”

“How do you know?”

“I’m just trying to be positive, bitch!”

Sable cracked a smile as Maria laughed and stood.

“Come on. Let’s get out of here. Maybe you need a real job. Playing with perverts all day and then dead people all night has to be affecting your mood.”

“I’m sure it is.”

“Why don’t you come to the group tonight? They’re all excited to meet you.”

“You told them about me?”

“Fuck yeah, I did!”

“God! Why? I told you what I do, people I work with. You gotta keep a lid on that shit.”

“Sable, it’s a group of witches. Trust me, they aren’t saying shit to anyone. They’re fascinated. Just come meet them. Please? You don’t even have to stay.”

Sable rolled her eyes as she thought about it.

“Fine. Can I stop and see mom first? Then you can come pick me up.”

“Hey! That’d be perfect!”

Maria dropped Sable off at her mom's and left to get ready. Sable walked into the tiny house. The nurse’s aide was putting something in the trash as Sable stepped inside.

“Hey, Sable!”

“Hey, Clara. How is she?”

“She’s good. Really tired. I just got her cleaned up and was going to head out for the day.”

“That’s fine. Thank you.”

Clara cleaned up for a bit and then headed out. Sable had hired her not long after her mom grew weak. Insurance didn’t cover a home health nurse, so Sable paid it out of pocket. It was expensive but she didn’t mind it. She had just picked up a few big shot clients, and they alone helped cover most of it. Her second job paid more per gig but was much spottier in demand. She didn’t mind. She had plenty of money socked away. Even though she lived within modest means, she was planning ahead for a better life one day.

She walked into the back room, and there was her mom lying in bed. Even though it was her own room, the place smelled like a hospital. Freshly cleaned and sanitized with a barf bucket next to her mother’s bed.

“Hey, mom. I just got off work.”

“Hey Sable, so happy to see you. How was the restaurant? You get a lot of good tips?” Her mom asked. She’d told her she was waiting tables. Not the best job in the world for a thirty-five-year-old but better than her mom knowing her current jobs.

“Yeah, I did. Got some really good ones. Made good money.”

“That’s so good.” She stopped to cough. Her mom was sixty-two years old but looked almost eighty. Cancer and its treatments had really taken their toll on her. The nurse often had to give her protein shakes just so she’d have some kind of nutrition.

Sable sat down next to her and held her hand.

“Thanks, mom. How are you feeling? Any better today?”

“A little bit. Still really weak. Clara helped me to the bathroom today, and I made it. So that’s a good start I guess.”

“That’s great!”

“I’m just dreading going back next time. Please don’t make me go.”

“Mom. We talked about this. This is your best chance to beat it.”

“What if I don’t want to beat it? I’m tired, and this is kicking my ass. Hell, even if I do beat it, what good am I?”

“Come on, mom, don’t say that.”

“Well? I’ll be so frail. The doctor said my bones might be even more brittle when it’s all over. I won’t even be seventy and already getting broken hips and God knows what else.”

“You’re just tired. I don’t blame you.”

“You’re right. How’s Maria? Is she going to come and visit?”

“I keep telling her to. We’re going out tonight. She wants me to meet some friends of hers.”

“Friends? Oh, that’s nice. I always told you that you need to get out more.”

“Yes. I know. I’m trying.”

“Maybe you’ll find a nice man. I get worried about you being alone all the time. No telling what kind of sick perverts are out there.”

Oh, mom, you have no idea.

“I know. I’ll be careful. Maybe I’ll meet someone tonight.”

“Well make sure you bring your new friends to visit!”

“I’ll try, mom.”

Her mom’s eyes fluttered as she tried to say something else.

“It’s ok, why don’t you get some sleep.”

“That sounds good.”

“I’ll tuck you in. Carla will be back in a few hours to check on you.”

Her mom rolled to her side as Sable pulled the covers up over her and got her tucked in. She kissed her on the forehead before heading out. She called Maria who said she’d be by in ten minutes. Sable stood outside waiting and looked down at her jeans and hoodie. She hoped this wasn’t a formal event, whatever it was. After a few minutes, Maria pulled up and rolled down the window. She had on something black and low cut. Like really low cut. She could swear her friend was having a nip slip.

“What are you wearing?” Sable asked.

“Oh, you’re so innocent now? Get in, bitch! We’re gonna do some magic!”

Chapter 4

They arrived at the house twenty minutes later. It was on the north side of San Antonio in a gated community. They drove through the gate after Maria checked them in. They called ahead to the house where they got the ok. Maria pulled around to the end of a cul de sac where another gated home waited. She pulled up and pushed the intercom.

“It’s Maria, plus one!” she said, and the gate slid open. They pulled inside and up a winding drive. Sable wondered what kind of place this was. Maria told her it was a coven of witches. Were they rich witches? She wasn’t even sure how a coven worked. Since discovering her own gift, she’d never bothered to join any coven. Then again, she hated most people. Other than Maria and her mom, she really had no one else. Maria parked in the huge driveway where ten other cars were parked. Sable looked around and nudged Maria.

“Fuck, this many cars outside one house in my neighborhood and the cops would think it was a crack house,” Sable said.

“Funny. Try to be nice, please?”

“Hey, you dragged me here so I can watch them do card tricks and play with a Ouija board.”

“See? Try to have an open mind! I mean, Jesus, you shove dildos up guys’ asses and then go rifle through dead people’s guts.”

“Yeah, but they all pay me really well.”

“Whatever, bitch. Try to fit in. At least you dressed up.”

“Fuck you.”

They reached the door and rang the doorbell. The door swung open and a tall white haired man stood there. He was wearing a black turtleneck and a big smile.

“Maria! So glad to see you! How are you, love?”

“I’m fine. This is my friend Sable I told you about.”

“Well hello!” he reached out, took her hand, and shook it gently. “Sable is such a beautiful name. I’m Eugene.”

“Thanks, I guess,” she said.

“Please, come on in. The others are waiting.”

They walked in and looked around. In the living room, there was a large carpet shaped like a pentagram with six or seven others sitting around in a circle. Sable looked at them, then at Eugene.

“So you guys like a cult or something?”

“Coven! Sable. Fuck!” Maria said. “I’m sorry. She can be a bit crass at times.”

“I’m not crass. I just don’t get it.”

“It’s fine. You’re our special guest today.”

“Does that mean you’re going to sacrifice me?”

“Oh no!” Eugene laughed. “You’re such a funny lady. No. No. We would just like to get to know you and learn about your special gift.”

She sat down with them in the circle. It was about half and half guys to girls. The guys all wore black turtlenecks and the girls their skimpy open dresses with their tits almost falling out, pretty much like Maria’s. Then there was Sable in her hoodie. She looked around as everyone sat smiling at her.

“So Sable, this gift of yours. What can you tell us about it?”

She’d had no idea she’d be put on the spot like that right out of the gate. She looked at Maria who shrugged.

“Can you really talk to dead people?” one girl asked.

“And how do you do that? Isn’t that like black magic? Isn’t that forbidden? I mean are you like an evil witch?”

“Hang on a second. I’m not a fucking witch for one. I know Maria is, and I don’t question it or whatever. But this is something I can just do. Not something I learned.”

“No one taught you?”

“No! I just kind of figured it out.”

“How? How does it work?”

“You really want to know? It’s gross as fuck.”

“Yes. We’d love to know.”

“Ok. Fine. It’s pretty simple. I cut open a dead body. As long as their intestines are still intact, I just pull them out and start squeezing them. Something about when I touch them wakes them up.”

“Are you fucking serious?” One guy asked.

“Yes. I’m fucking serious. You all asked me.”

“No one means any offense, Sable,” Eugene said. “Please continue.”

“Well, then they wake up and stay awake as long as I’m holding their intestines. I can talk to them, they can talk to me. If I need information from them…”

“Like what kind of information?”

“Like any kind. I don’t know. Why the fuck else would I be playing with a dead guy’s guts? Anyway, I can make them tell me what I need to know by squeezing, pulling, and so forth, on their guts. It hurts them like a lot. They hate it. If I rip their intestine apart, they go back to death but it sends them straight to hell.”

“Really?” another asked. “How do you know?”

“Well, I don’t really. One of them told me that. He called me a Necromancer and said I had the power to send him to hell and begged me not to rip his intestines out.”

“So, did you?”

“Well, yeah. I wanted to see if he was lying. He died and I couldn’t wake him back up. So if that part was true, I guess he’s in hell too.”

She looked around and saw everyone was visibly horrified.

“What?”

“Jesus Christ, Sable,” Maria said as she leaned over.

“They’re like good witches,” she whispered. “You just described doing some dark ass shit. You’re freaking them the fuck out.”

Even Eugene appeared to be at a loss.

“Hey, I don’t even know if there really is a hell. Some of them talk about crossing over. They all see a bright light and all that. Though one guy who died after getting shot by police while shooting up a convenience store said he felt hot flames around him before I woke him up.”

“What did you do to him?”

“I ripped his fucking guts right out.”

“Umm…” one of them began. “Just how many times have you done this, and where do you get the dead bodies? Do police have you talk to murder victims to solve crimes?”

“That sounds like a TV show.”

“Wasn’t Medium like that?” one girl said.

“I think so, but she didn’t play with their guts.”

“How about the Ghost Whisperer? I used to love that show.”

“Guys, please!” Eugene interrupted. “Sable, how did you discover this gift? You said you just had it.”

“It was kind of by accident. Me and Maria were on a trip a few years ago. Was ten years ago maybe, and we got in a bad wreck. Another car went to pass on a solid yellow line and hit us head on.”

“Were you hurt?”

“Not real bad. More shaken up. Maria had some bruises. We were driving her dad’s Yukon, so even though it was head on, the front of the car was bashed up, but we weren’t hurt badly. Just banged up. So I get out and see the driver of the other car got thrown and bounced off the road. His car was totally demolished. He’s lying in the middle of the road almost a hundred feet away.”

“I walked up and touched the guy to see if he was ok. Blood was all over. I mean everywhere. I was sure he was dead, but I rolled him over and his stomach was all torn up. I thought, what if he’s still alive? So I put my hand on his stomach to do direct pressure, but his guts were partway hanging out. I was just trying to stop or slow the bleeding.”

“As soon as I touched him, his eyes shot open and he gasped. He asked me who I was. I told him my name then he freaked out. Said he was about to move toward the light but I stopped him. Why did I stop him? He kept asking. I was like, I’m just trying to stop you from bleeding to death and he said ‘I already am dead’. I took my hands off him and he went back out. Maria was standing behind me and saw the whole thing. I touched him again just out of curiosity and he woke up again, but this time I took my hand off for good.”

She looked around, and this time, everyone was leaning forward listening.

“That is really amazing,” Eugene said.

“I guess. Scared the hell out of me at first.”

“So do you help people talk to their loved ones who have passed? To give them closure or speak to a lost family member?” one girl asked.

Sable was somewhat surprised at her question. It actually seemed like something a normal person would do. Yet, for some reason, helping people in such away had never occurred to her. She’d immediately found ways to profit from it and continued to do so. Part of it was out of fear. If word got out about what she could do, there was no telling who or what she’d attract. Charging her exorbitant fee, she insisted on complete discretion from her employers.

“No. I guess not. Nothing that noble.”

“Then what do you use it for? For what purpose?”

“What purpose? Survival.”

Chapter 5

Santiago walked around the warehouse and looked at one of his men, Gustavo. Gustavo acted as his right-hand man and enforcer, when needed. Which was rather often.

“Who the fuck did this?”

The goon looked around and up at his boss.

“I don’t know, sir,” the man said.

He knelt down next to Spider’s body and looked him up and down. Spider’s head was lying next to the body but there was little blood.

“Look at this shit. Bleeding out his ears, eyes, and nose. No wounds. No gunshot. No stab wounds. Nothing.”

“Well, they cut his head off,” Gustavo said.

“Yeah. After he was dead. It would be a lot messier otherwise. What the fuck kind of sick animal did this shit?

He rolled Spider’s head around examining it.

“Jesus Christ. Not even a fucking head wound. And what did they use to cut off his head? A butter knife? Jesus. Sloppy as fuck.”

“You think it was poison?” the other man said. “Like someone slipped them something, or poison gas maybe?”

“It’s possible. Bag them up and bring the van. I’ll call Sable.”

“Sir, you think that is a good idea?” Gustavo asked.

“Of course it’s a good fucking idea. Spider came here to drop off a bunch of dope. He and my guys are all dead and my fucking dope is gone. I’m not going to try to explain to the bosses that their merchandise was stolen. That reflects on me! So yes. Send a car to pick up Sable and make her get her fucking ass to the safe house.”

“Yes, sir,” he said as he stepped over the bodies and took out his phone. After a few minutes, Gustavo returned and nodded to Santiago. “Car is on the way.”

“Did you talk to Sable?”

“I left a message. It went straight to voice mail.”

“Fuck. That bitch better be home.”

“Not like she knew you’d need her tonight,” Gustavo said. Santiago glared at him and shook his head.

“Yeah, I know. You know who Spider was meeting tonight?”

“That pawn shop guy, I think.”

“Fuck. You’re right. Let’s stop by there.”

They got in the car and headed to Pick N’ Pawn. It was a nasty name but Henry J. Thomas was a nasty person. The guy had used the money from his mom’s life insurance to open his shop. That in itself wasn’t a terrible thing. The terrible part was the fact that Henry often withheld his mom’s heart medications until she finally keeled over. He collected the insurance and was off and running. They pulled out and walked up to the front door. The clerk was already pulling the gate closed, as it was getting late. Gustavo ran up and yelled at the man.

“Hey! You’re not closing up just yet,” he said.

“But I gotta close up.”

Gustavo lifted his shirt enough the man could see his gun.

“You’re staying open a bit longer.”

Santiago walked up and the man stepped aside, letting them both in. They walked in and looked around at the various junk hanging around the store. Hubcaps, stereo equipment, there was a cabinet of guns and a whole case filled with cheap jewelry. Santiago looked around and at the employee.

“Where’s your boss?”

“He’s in the back office.”

The two men walked behind the counter and into the office. Just as they pushed the door open another door slammed just behind them. Gustavo ran toward the door to see someone had just run out the fire exit. He ran outside to see Henry climbing into his car and peeling out. Gustavo lifted his gun to fire, but Henry had turned the corner too quickly.

“Fuck!” he yelled as Santiago came outside.

“I guess that’s our answer,” Santiago said.

“But how? This guy is a pussy. I’ve run into him before. No way he killed those guys.”

“I bet he has our shit. Why else would he run? Maybe he brought a crew with him.”

“What crew? I’ve seen his guys. They’re all a bunch methed up gringos. Most of them can’t even shoot straight. I think one shot himself in the leg trying to pull his gun out. How’s he suddenly got a crew who can take guys out like that? Something weird is up. He’s working with someone else.”

“You think so?” Santiago walked inside and sat down. “Fuck. Maybe he’s working with Beltran. Fuck.”

“No way, man. Beltran doesn’t want a war any more than we do.” Gustavo looked at his phone as it buzzed. “Sable just texted me. She said she’s not fucking with dead bodies in the middle of the fucking night.”

“You tell that bitch, fuck. Goddammit. I want to know what happened! Tell her triple the pay. One for each body. Plus a bonus for the inconvenience.”

Gustavo entered the message.

“OK. She said she’s on the way.”

“That’s my girl.”

“How did you find her?”

“Kind of by accident. I was one of her, um clients for her other business. She kind of mentioned something weird that happened after she was in a car accident. I wanted to see if she could do it again so I paid her some money to try it on a corpse. Sure enough, he was looking around talking and shit.”

“I’ve never watched her do it, man. I don’t want to.”

“You should, Gustavo. It’s some crazy shit. Might blow your mind. I know you like Sable.”

“Yeah. She’s fine as fuck but, damn. That’s like devil shit man. Waking up the dead. No fucking way. I’m Catholic. That’s like satanic shit.”

“How many people you kill this week?”

“Only two. Why?”

“And you’re a good Catholic?”

“I go to confession. Look at you! What are you?”

“I am Esteban. That is all I need, my friend.”

They got in the car and headed to the safe house. When they arrived, the van was already sitting outside. Inside, Santiago’s men had already set up each body on its own table. Both bodies’ heads had been severed, but the heads were sitting next to the bodies on the tables. It had been awhile since she had worked on a decapitated body. As long as the head was present it still worked. The only time she couldn’t do anything was on a body badly decomposed or burned. They waited several minutes before the SUV pulled up and Sable climbed out. She was wearing a gray hoodie while her friend was dressed like she was about to go dance on a pole.

“Who the fuck is this?” Santiago asked.

“Nice to see you too, Santiago. She’s my friend. I didn’t want to come out here alone. Is that a problem?”

“You’ve never brought a guest. This isn’t a plus one. You’re working.”

“Right. She knows all about what I do. She’s fine.”

“She stays outside.”

“Fine.” Sable looked to Maria. “Just stand outside for a bit. This won’t take very long.”

Maria nodded and headed out.

“All right,” Sable said. “So which one is first?”

Chapter 6

“Motherfuck! That hurts!” Spider’s disembodied head screamed. Sable stood over him squeezing and stretching a length of his intestines. Santiago stood by watching.

“Then fucking tell me what happened!”

Spider looked around as he saw what Sable was doing to him and looked at her.

“Oh no! Oh shit! You’re her! You’re Sable! Fuck! I’m dead aren’t I! No! No! No! Fuck! What’s wrong with my head? Did they cut off my head? Oh God. Oh my God!” Spider crossed himself and began mumbling something in Spanish. She looked at Santiago.

“What the fuck is he doing?”

“He’s praying.”

She jerked on his intestine, and his eyes snapped open while he screamed.

“Stop that! No prayer can help you. You want to go to hell, keep fucking with me. I rip your guts out while you’re awake like this and you go straight to fucking hell. So I’m going to ask you again if you’re done flipping out. What happened?”

“All right! All right! That guy Henry.”

“Henry who?”

“Henry Thomas. Henry J. Thomas. Owns some shitty pawn shop. We provide his heroin, which he sells through his shop. Dude showed up and went all crazy. He did this thing.”

“What thing? What are you talking about?”

“Can you bring me back for good? Like, do you have to send me back? Can’t you just patch me up and I’ll walk out of here?”

“I’ll rip your guts right to fucking hell. How’s that sound?”

“Ok, shit! I don’t know what he did. He waved his hand around all weird. Said he could feel our pain. Then like I started to remember everything. I remembered my mom’s boyfriend beating the shit out of me. I remembered getting stabbed when I was in jail. I remembered everything. Everything bad that ever happened to me and it like was all in my brain at once. Like a movie on fast forward. Then he made a fist and like punched the air. Suddenly my head hurt like it was on fire and then I was out. Next thing I remember is you doing whatever you’re doing.”

“So this Henry guy didn’t lay a finger on you. Killed both of you by just waving his hands around and making you feel your own pain?”

“Yeah. Said he can put all our pain into a little mental bullet he called it. Then said he just had to fire. Just like that and you’re dead.”

Sable looked around and thought about it, trying to figure out what this meant. In all her years doing this sort of thing, she’d never come across someone like her. She hadn’t seen anyone remotely like her. The witches she met earlier had done some spells, but she hadn’t seen any direct result. They were things like prosperity and wellness spells and shit. None of it made sense to her. Eugene rambled on about doing what is right and to harm none. What was the point of being a witch if you couldn’t turn assholes into lumps of shit?

“What the fuck?” she looked at Santiago.

“That sounds like a bunch of bullshit,” Santiago said. “Can you believe that? Mental bullets? What the fuck is he talking about?”

“Well, considering I’m talking to a dead guy, I’d say it's feasible. You saw how their bodies were. Sounds like he just scrambles their brains.”

“That’s fucking brutal, man,” Santiago said.

“Yeah it is.” She looked back at Spider. “Anything else?”

“What? No. I mean he killed me or whatever. Damn that sounds fucked up to say. Hey. Can I have some last words before you put me back? How about my mom? Can you bring my mom here so I can tell her goodbye at…” before he could finish she ripped his intestines apart as his eyes went wide and he went silent. His eyes frozen open in terror as his mouth hung wide open. Blood and brown sludge oozed from the loose entrails as she stepped away. Santiago was glaring at her.

“Why did you do that?”

“I was all done.”

“You tore his guts. That sends him to hell. You told me that before. He was one of my men. Why you send my man to hell?”

“He’s a shithead. I can’t bring him back anyway. Besides, I don’t even know if that’s true. One of the dead guys said it once. Could have been bullshit.”

“So why do you do it?”

“Just in case.”

“In case of what?”

“In case some asshole deserving of hell happens to escape it. I’ll make sure he gets there.”

“What if you’re wrong? What if that doesn’t do anything?”

“Want me to try it on you?”

“Go clean up.”

“Is my friend outside, still? Is she ok?”

“She’s fine. No need to do the other body. We know what we need.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“Against Henry? And his mental bullets? I’ll shoot him from far enough away with a real bullet. Won’t be that hard. This magic bullshit means nothing to me. I’ll shoot you one day if I have to.”

He’d never threatened Sable before. She dismissed it as him being under pressure. Usually, he was pretty much in control of things when he brought her in. In this case, it was totally out of control and if he didn’t recover the stolen drugs, his bosses would probably rip his own guts out. She wondered if they’d have her come and read him. That would be weird, but interesting. She went into the bathroom and removed her apron, dumping it into the trash bag they had placed for her. Once she scrubbed her hands and arms she went outside where Maria was talking to the driver.

“All done?”

“Yes. All done.”

“Sweet! Want to go back to the party or head home?”

“You kidding me? That was not a party. More like a magic show.”

“Oh, come on. Not everyone is endowed with mighty power like you are. Some of us have to, like, work with nature and the planet to tap into our hidden powers.”

“Ok. I’m just tired. Let’s go home,” Sable said as she climbed into the Suburban.

Chapter 7

Henry sped down the street and called up Jimmy.

“Hey. You wanna work for me? We got work to do. Santiago and his guys were just at the shop. I flew outta there. Stop by the gas station and pick me up. We got an errand to run.”

He hung up and headed through San Antonio’s south side. He cruised down Military onto Zarzamora. After a few blocks, there was a convenience store he usually did meet-ups at. Jimmy arrived a short time later. Henry grabbed the bag and jumped into Jimmy’s car.

“So, now what?” Jimmy asked.

“I need a crew. A real crew. You and me can only do so much.”

“How we gonna do that?”

“How did I get you? Let’s head to see Paul Jiminez. I’m sure he’ll buy the heroin, and we’ll see if we can get some men from him.”

“He’s one of Beltran’s men. He won’t buy shit from you. He’ll shoot us both.”

“No, he won’t.”

On the drive, Jimmy looked over at Henry.

“Hey, that thing you can do. Why did you just do it to Santiago and his guy? You took two guys down easy when Spider came at you. Yet you just up and ran here.”

“I don’t know, to be honest. Was just a reaction. I had been expecting Spider to pull something. He’d been acting weird the last few times. Showing lots more attitude, trying to throw his weight around. So I was kind of prepared. These guys caught me off guard. I was afraid it wouldn’t work if I couldn’t concentrate right.”

“How do you do it? I mean did you learn it? You just figure it out?”

“Hard to explain. I was yelling at an employee who had fucked up in the store one day, and suddenly he was all crying and shit. I apparently was doing it then. So I tried it out on a few of them here and there. First time I really let go and went for it was with you guys. It worked like I suspected it would. No idea how I’m able to do it.”

“It’s fucking crazy, man. Just don’t use it on me. That’s all I ask. I’m a good employee; I’ll do whatever you want.”

“Hey, no reason to.”

They pulled up outside a run-down nightclub with cars parked all over the lot and along the street. The men climbed out and headed inside. One of the doormen recognized Henry and took him to the back. Even though Henry had never worked for Jiminez or Beltran they’d long had an understanding of who was selling what, in which part of town. For the most part, they managed to stay out of each other’s way. When they stepped inside, Paul was in a back lounge of the club, shooting pool with a group of men, with a couple scantily clad women hanging out. He was short and muscular, with a crooked nose like a boxer’s, yet as  far as anyone knew, he’d never been in a real fight.

“Henry! What brings you here! And what do you have with you?”

“I thought we could do some business. I’m getting out of the drug trade. I’m moving on to some greener pastures. I thought you might like a good deal on some product.

Paul put his pool stick down and looked down at the bag Henry was holding.

“That wouldn’t happen to be the same product that was stolen from one of Santiago’s men was it?”

“I don’t know nothing about that.”

“Oh, I’m sure you don’t. Someone offed Spider and another guy. Beltran called me asking if I knew something about it. Apparently Santiago thinks it was us and thinks a war might be coming. None of us wants no war.”

“Like I said, I don’t know anything about that. This is left over from my last shipment. You want it or not?”

Paul took a sip from a beer bottle and sat it back down.

“Do I look fucking stupid to you?” He said as he pulled a gun and pointed it at Henry. “You trying to set me up in whatever little fucked up game you’re playing? I should paint the walls with your fucking brains right now.”

“You should put the gun away, Paul.”

“Or what?”

Henry raised his hand slightly.

“Or…remember that time Beltran pistol-whipped you like a little bitch?”

“What?” Paul said as the gun trembled in his hand.

Henry twisted his hand slightly to the right.

“He fucked you up good. That’s why your nose is all fucked up. And you told everyone you got jumped by a gang of thugs. Nope, it was just Beltran. All because you came up five-hundred dollars short. I bet you never did that again.”

“Fuck you, man!”

Henry pushed his hand forward slightly as tears ran down Paul’s face just before he dropped the gun. Everyone in the room sat watching. Jimmy stood by with his gun out in case anyone tried anything.

“What are you doing to me?” Paul asked. “You’re hurting me.”

“You’re goddamn right I am. I tried to do this the easy way, but you weren’t having it. So here we are. You want to know what happened to Spider?”

“No! No, it’s ok. I’ll take the top. Fuck! That hurts! What are you doing?”

Henry clenched his fist and rotated it slightly as bloody tears oozed from Paul’s eyes. Paul dropped to his knees and put his hands up.

“Oh god! What is happening?!”

“Oh nothing,” Henry said. “Just doing a bit of reorganization.” Thrusting his fist forward, Paul let out a yelp as he fell to the side. This time, his eyeballs actually exploded in their sockets, and a fountain of crimson shot from both of his ears as the back of his head burst open. Chunks of skull and brain splattered onto the man behind him as he collapsed. Milky eyeball fluid got all over one of the girls nearby, who then screamed and ran out of the room.

Looking around, he surveyed the rest of Paul’s crew, standing by horrified.

“Ok, boys,” Henry said. “I’m taking over operations of this club and all of Paul’s operations in general. All of you now work for me!” He looked around at all the men and women whose mouths were hanging open. “Does anyone have a problem with that?”

Silence.

“I didn’t think so. Now, one of you cut off this guy’s head for me.”

Chapter 8

“Find this fucker and skin him alive!” Edward Beltran said as he slammed his fist onto his desk. “Then! Then when you peel the skin from his body like a human fucking banana…while he’s still alive mind you, cut off his fucking head. I’m going to put his head on a spike outside of that fucking nightclub!” He looked around the room at his men staring at each other cluelessly.

“Well? You idiots going to say anything?”
“Um, I don’t think we can just put a severed head outside a nightclub like that, boss.” One of his men said. Beltran looked at him as if the man were a pile of dog shit.

“Who the fuck are you?”
“I’m Kellen sir. Kellen List. I work for you.”

“Right. Well, Kellen List. Why don’t you list the ways you can cut this guy’s fucking balls off? Seriously? Why am I here even explaining this to you assholes?”

Word of Henry J. Thomas’ hostile takeover of one of his own clubs as well as a few territories reached Beltran several days after Thomas had either killed several of his men or somehow recruited them, which was unheard of. His men were not only paid well by him but he made sure everyone was kept scared shitless. A few years before, one guy had decided it would be cool if he skimmed cash off the top of their weekly deals. It was millions of dollars from drug and gun sales. Beltran could see why the guy didn’t think anyone would miss it. Truth was, Beltran didn’t miss it. Not just one guy.

That was the problem, you let one guy skim like that, it’s just a matter of time before another is doing it, then another. Next thing you know your entire crew is robbing you blind. So he nipped it in the bud the only way he knew how. The guy’s name was Anthony Werley. He’d worked for Beltran for a few months, so should have known better. Handling that kind of cash day in and day out, it was easy to see how one would get tempted to start pocketing a few bucks. Beltran planned to make sure it didn’t happen again. He would sometimes take his crews out onto his yacht in the Gulf of Mexico for parties. This time, he brought Anthony and several others in his crew, along with a whole group of hookers and strippers.

Hours into the cruise, Anthony was drunk and coked out of his head. Beltran sent one of his men into the cabin to go and get him. When they found him, Anthony had his nose buried into a stripper’s asshole while he snorted a line of coke right out of her butt crack and along the small of her back. She sat there giggling the whole time. They brought him topside with an additional surprise.

“Anthony,” Beltran had said. “I thought you should know why we brought you here today. Today is a special event.”

Anthony looked around at the rest of the crew. Some were smiling, others looked frightened.

“See, Anthony? Today we brought some special guests.” As Beltran spoke, two men appeared from one of the cabins with Anthony’s elderly mother and father bound and gagged. His dad was seventy-three years old and his mom sixty-eight. They had been in mostly good health but they weren’t looking so hot standing before Anthony right then and there.

“Mom? Dad? What the fuck?” he screamed as he lunged for them but several of Beltran’s men grabbed him. One threw him to the ground and punched him so hard in the face, he almost lost consciousness. They pulled him to his feet as Beltran continued speaking.

“I’m well aware of your little side business of, well, stealing from me. There’s a lot of things I can tolerate and even more things I can forgive. Being robbed by my own fucking men that I trust? No. That’s not one of them, I’m afraid.”

As he spoke, another of his men picked up a set of chains and wrapped them around Anthony’s father. He wrapped the chains around his waist, under his arms, and over his shoulders. Using a set of padlocks, he ran the chain through two cement blocks and locked them into place with the padlocks.

“What are you going to do? Please, I’m sorry! I just thought it was so much money. No one would miss it. I didn’t even spend it! Just let them go! Please? Or just kill me. I’ll tell you where the money is. You can have all of it. And still kill me. Please don’t hurt my parents.”

“Well, see, I’m not the one hurting your parents. You see, you did that. You are the one who betrayed me; you stole from me; you decided to put yourself ahead of everyone else. Including them.” Beltran nodded at one of his men who gave Anthony’s father a shove. The old man let out a single yelp as he toppled over the edge and disappeared into the water with a single plop! Anthony’s mother screamed through her gag as Anthony himself tried to lunge for Beltran. Two men held him back and wrestled him to the ground as he shouted.

“You motherfucker! I’m going to kill you!”

“No, Mr. Werley, I don’t think you are. So you saw the first lesson. Don’t steal from me. Actually, that’s pretty much the only lesson.” He turned and nodded as the other man shoved the old woman overboard. She splashed into the water as Anthony lay there crying.

“Why? I only took a few thousand dollars. Why not just kill me? Why all this?”

“Because I run a large organization. What do you suppose happens when word gets out you can just steal from me? Now the word is out that if you steal from me, I will kill your entire fucking family and then yourself. Except when I kill you, it’s really going to hurt.”

One of the men took a sledgehammer and smashed it into Anthony’s foot. He hit the left one and right one. Anthony screamed and howled in pain as the bones in his feet and ankles crunched until they were nothing but drooping sacks of reddish pulp. One of the men tied a rope around his waist as they lifted him off the ground. Anthony’s screams turned to moans as he struggled to maintain consciousness.

Beltran took a knife and slit his broken, swelling legs open as blood oozed from the bruised sacks of flesh. They threw him overboard but pulled the rope tight until he was waist deep in the water, being dragged alongside the boat. From the trail of blood seeping from his legs, it wasn’t long before the sharks came. Anthony didn’t know what kind they were and didn’t care. He felt the first nip and it didn’t seem so bad, just stung a little. The second time, the shark bit down on his leg, pulling him under as he tried to scream.

Back on the deck of the ship, the party had resumed with Beltran snorting coke off a girl’s tits while several of his men took turns fucking each girl on the various patio furniture around the deck. As they plowed along in their coke-fueled orgy, they ignored Anthony’s screams as he was slowly eaten alive.

“Boss?” Kellen asked. “So what do you want us to do?”

“Yeah, right,” Beltran said, snapping out of his memory.

“So how you want us to handle this. For real? You really want us to put his head on a spike?”

“No. No. You’re right. Go to that club tomorrow night, take as many guys as you need. Barricade the place shut and burn it the fuck down.”

“What about our guys inside?”

“They’re not our guys anymore. They’re his guys. They turned.”

“But all the innocents. Cops will really go apeshit. They might even call the Feds.”

“I don’t give a fuck. Everyone this Henry asshole has run into he’s either killed or turned. I don’t know how in the fuck he is doing it, but I’m not giving him the chance to do it again. Burn it all the fuck down! You got it?”

“I got it,” Kellen said as he turned. “I’ll tell the guys. We’ll burn all those fuckers.”

Chapter 9

Maria sat on the couch watching TV while Sable worked at the table stitching part of a new suit together. She was attaching a hood and cape to a latex suit with a corset. Some of her clients had been getting these weird witch fantasies and since she had recently spent an evening with a group of witches, she thought this would be appropriate. Several girls in the coven had outfits with black hoods. None had their tits hanging out like Sable’s usually were.

“So which of your jobs pays better, honestly?” Maria asked. One thing she’d always loved about her friend was how she’d never tried to change her. Never told her to get a new job, never told her she was degrading herself. She knew who and what Sable was and just accepted her. Having seen her do her work with the dead first hand, she knew that was just a part of Sable that would never change. Maria had never seen her doing her sex work, which was fine with Sable. They were good friends, but not that close.

“Honestly, the dead body thing pays more per job. But it’s not as steady. Lately, it has been. With whoever this guy is that killed those last few guys, I have a feeling there will be more. Usually, I spend most of my days naked or in latex.”

“And that doesn’t bother you?”

“Why should it? It’s fun, pays well, and I’ve got the body for it. May as well put it to use.”

“Can’t blame you there. I’m just not as hot as you are.”

“You fucking kidding me?” Sable said. “You are hot as fuck. You just wear baggy shit and are convinced you’re a fat cow, but you’re not.”

“Shut up, bitch.”

“Just sayin.”

There was a knock on the door, and they looked at each other. Maria walked over and answered to see Eugene standing in the doorway. This time, he wasn’t wearing his black witchy garb. He had on a pair of jeans and a Hawaiian shirt.

“Hi, ladies. Hope I’m not disturbing you. I thought I could speak to you without the pressure of the group. Sable, I have to say I’m quite intrigued and enamored by you. So, I was hoping to get to know you a bit.”

“Well, I usually charge for that, and you’ll need an appointment,” she said.

Eugene looked at Maria confused.

“Huh?”

“Nothing,” Maria said while glaring at Sable. “Behave!” She pointed a finger at Sable, who shrugged as Eugene stepped inside. He fidgeted with his hands for a bit before walking to the couch. In one of his hands, he had some old book. Sable at first thought it was a bible, but that would be an odd thing for a witch to be carrying. Upon closer look, she saw it had a bunch of weird symbols on it.

“So what brings you here, Eugene?” Maria asked.

“Yeah, you guys have trouble with your friendship bead spells after I left? I’ve been told I carry a lot of dark energy. I don’t try to. I’m just kind of a walking black cloud,” Sable said.

Eugene ignored her as he opened his book.

“Well, your special ability fascinated me. It’s not something I’ve ever heard of. I mean I’ve heard of necromancy. Usually, that just involved handling the dead body’s organs and being able to get a reading or predicting the future. Sometimes even raising the dead, but this, what you do, is something entirely different. It is a form of witchcraft for sure. And in the past, there’s only ever been a few women who could do it. They called them NecroWitches.”

“Necro what? Like I fuck dead people?” Sable asked.

“No no. That’s necrophilia. Totally different. I hope you don’t do that. This is called a NecroWitch. You’re a natural born witch. You have other powers likely you don’t even know about. But this necro thing is quite powerful. You can basically raise the dead, torture the dead. If you tried, you could actually resurrect them in some fashion.”

“Like zombies?”

He flipped through the book.

“Well, not quite. They’d be alert and coherent. Not sure how intact they’d be. But they’d basically be your slaves.”

“Slaves? Sweet!”

“Not sweet. Sable, listen. This is all considered very dark magic. I mean in my time as a witch, I’ve come across things like go-away spells and bad luck spells. Things that can cause some problems for folks. I never do these things because we believe whatever you put out comes back to you tenfold.”

“Well, I’m fucked.”

“Yes, but with you it gets murky. Like you’re not a bad person. I don’t get the dark magic aura from you. Yet you can do the darkest thing I’ve ever heard of.”

“So there’ve been others like me?”

“There was one in England in the 1700’s. She would bring back dead children of families to ease their sorrow.”

“Oh, that’s nice. See? We’re not evil.”

“Yes but they burned her alive and scattered her remains into the ocean.”

“Well, shit.”

“Yes. So I would keep a low profile on your ability, for sure.”

“Well, I had been doing so until someone decided I should join a coven.” She looked at Maria, who shrugged.

“Just trying to help,” Maria said.

“Well. No one from our group will say anything. I don’t think anyone else there even knew what to think. I just thought I’d offer you some insight since you weren’t even sure of your own past.”

“Thank you, then,” Sable said.

“Sure. I guess I’ll be going. Thank you, ladies, for having me. I don’t want to keep you anymore. You ladies have a great evening.”

Eugene closed the book and saw himself out. As the girls talked about Eugene’s new information before resuming their previous activities; they didn’t realize Eugene climbed into a car with Jimmy.

“So that’s her? The one who Santiago always uses?” he asked.

“Yes, sir. I’m positive. She handled the info pretty well.”

“Why did you tell her all that? Won’t that make her stronger?”

“Perhaps. I wanted to see how much she knew. She has no idea what she is capable of. Is Mr. Thomas going to kill her?”

“Not if he can help it. With what he can do, imagine if he had her working for him. He just wants to be sure she’s the real deal first.”

“I haven’t seen her in action, but she definitely believes in what she does. So does her friend.”

“This doesn’t go against some witch code of yours coming to me with all this? Selling another witch out?”

“The universe is all about balance. There’s not a lot of us in the light. But a dark one like her counteracts probably hundreds of us. No telling what she’ll do once she realizes what she is capable of. I just see it like I’m saving some lives.”

“Plus, you can keep your mouth shut.” Jimmy handed Eugene an envelope full of cash. “There, go buy some goats to sacrifice or something. Get out of here.”

Chapter 10

Henry walked around the house he’d recently acquired. He hadn’t purchased it. There was no need for that. More of what he would call a “hostile takeover.” It was much larger than he’d needed. The thing had eight bedrooms, four bathrooms and both an indoor and outdoor pool. It would be fun for parties, for sure. His empire had grown quickly in just a few days. No doubt both Beltran and Esteban would be losing their shit if they hadn’t already. Any time now, he expected armies of thugs to come at him, trying to take him out. Fortunately, he’d acquired enough men to insulate him from such an attack. It would be difficult for any of them to reach him. He also made it a point to remain one step ahead of the drug lords.

Those clowns only know how to deal with things through brute force. While in most cases that would work, it wouldn’t work on him.

“Jimmy! Come in here, please!” he called out into the other room. Moments later, Jimmy returned.

“So you find out about this girl Esteban has been using?”

“Yes, sir. That wizard guy, or whatever, gave me all the info. This is some seriously fucked up shit. I mean what you can do is crazy enough. But this lady is like some kind of devil bitch or something. He calls her a NecroWitch.”

“NecroWitch? Sounds kinky? What all did he tell you?”

“Funny you say that. Her normal job is as a dominatrix.”

“Really? You don’t say?”

“Yeah, no shit. Real kinky shit too, I guess.”

Jimmy went on to explain everything Eugene had told him. He took it all in as he explained everything from cutting open the bodies, feeling their organs and the rest of the gory details. Henry couldn’t help but wonder what kind of things he could accomplish with her at his side. He could use his power to kill his enemies and her power to learn everything about them. Granted, he could learn a lot about them himself, but only their pain and suffering.

Looking at his phone, he realized it was getting late. He usually headed to the club at around this time. There was no real reason for him to be at the club other than he enjoyed hanging out there and running things from there. Getting laid four times a night wasn’t a bad part of it either. Tonight would be different. He sent a text message ordering another man to his office. An hour later, Kellen List was standing before him. Henry was really starting to like this crime boss thing. It was hard for him to imagine just weeks ago he’d been peddling heroin out of a shitty pawn shop.

“So they want to burn down my club, do they?” Henry asked Kellen.

“Yes. That’s what he said. I did what you asked. I got everything in place.”

“Good.”

“So you want us to burn your club down?”

“Sure! I mean I won’t be there. That’s the idea, right? He wants to kill me without getting close to me. That’s the plan, right?”

“Yes. You’re right.”

“Well, good.”

“You don’t care about killing your own customers or your own men?”

“Why should I? I got Beltran’s men!” Henry laughed.

“I did everything you asked. Can I have my wife and son back?” Kellen asked.

“I suppose you can see them. I’m not quite done with you yet.”

“Why? You turned all these other guys. I’ll work for you. I won’t go back to Beltran.”

“Yes, but I don’t know. There’s something kind of pathetic about you. Like right now you look like someone just shot your puppy. Here, lighten up.” Henry took out his phone and pulled up a video. “There, I got them on Facetime. You can say hello.”

He held up the phone to Kellen. Kellen’s face immediately turned ghost white. His wife and nine-year-old son were both hanging from meat hooks. Both were blindfolded with their hands tied as they hung from the hooks. His wife’s face was bloody and beaten but his son looked unharmed.

“You’ll have to excuse your lovely wife’s appearance. I allowed my boys to have a little fun with her, you know, to keep her company. I’m sure she enjoyed it.”

“You motherfucker…” Kellen started toward Henry who raised his hand, stopping Kellen in his tracks. “Fuck! Ow!” Kellen screamed as he put his hands over his face.

“Wow, a lot of pain there,” Henry taunted. “You know I could have them cut your son’s heart out right now on video and let you watch, all while I use that very pain to slowly melt your brain. How does that sound?”

“Please? I’ll do whatever you want!”

“I know you will, Kellen. Now get up.” He lowered his hand as Kellen stood. “Now, you get a freebie. Next time, I won’t be so nice.”

“I’m sorry. What do you want me to do?”

“Follow through with Beltran’s plan. I’m going to send my car to the club. He’ll think I was there. We’ll go from there. Keep at his side and come to me with anything he tells you.”

“Why not just kill him?”

“Where is the fun in that? In time, kid. In time. Now get out of here.”

Kellen turned and left as Henry lifted his phone. Jimmy had sent him some pictures of this girl, the NecroWitch. She was a looker, that was for sure. Long, dark hair, and the biggest set of tits he’d ever seen. Maybe he’d hire her services. See what she was about. He didn’t want her to feel his guts, but he wouldn’t mind feeling up some other things. He called up Jimmy.

“Hey, this Sable chick. Get me her website, her dominatrix one. Yeah, don’t worry about why. Just find it for me and text me the link.” Henry said and hung up. He was going to be having some fun tonight while his club burned.

Chapter 11

Sable was actually glad to have a “normal” client for a change after the past few nights of digging through dead bodies and their entrails, a night of humiliating some poor rich guy seemed like a nice break. He told her on the phone his name was John, but that probably wasn’t his real name. They almost never used their real names which was fine with her. They almost always used “John” which she found funny, but whatever.

When John came in, he looked like her usual client; middle age, overweight and trying too hard to dress stylishly, but looking more like a Miami Vice reject, wearing a light blue sports coat over a red t-shirt. The guy seemed friendly enough, but there was something that felt off about him. She couldn’t put a finger on it, but there was something dark behind those eyes. She had something dark too, that’s how she could see it. But his was consuming him.

“Wow!” he said as he stood in the doorway. “You must be Sable.”

She was still wearing her robe with her corset and leather body suit underneath so she didn’t quite get the excitement.

“Yep. That’s me. You have the money?”

“Yes, ma’am!” he reached into his pocket and handed her a wad of bills. She counted it and put it in her robe pocket and looked up at him.

“Ok, you were kind of vague on the phone. So what is it you would like exactly?”

“Oh, just a massage. With a happy ending if you get what I mean?” he said with a wink.

“Ok. That’s real vanilla. I’m a dominatrix. I get paid for the rough stuff, to be mean or whatever weird kink. There’s a nice Asian massage place a few blocks from here. I could give you their number if you just want a hand-job.”

He shook his head.

“No. No. No. I want a massage and a hand-job. And I want them from you.”

“Why? It's way more expensive for me to do it.” Not to mention she didn’t want to oil up this guy and jerk him off.

“Because I think you are beautiful and sexy. I’ll even pay extra.” He dug into his wallet, took out several more hundred dollar bills, and handed them to her. She flipped through. With what he’d already paid her, that was almost four thousand dollars she'd made for this one-hour session. Usually, she only made five or six hundred, maybe more for the real kinky stuff. This guy wanted a four grand hand-job?

“Hey, it’s your money. Go get undressed and lie down on the table. What do you want me to wear?”

“Can you wear like a silk robe or something?”

“Yeah I have something like that, I think. I’ll be right back.”

When she returned, he was lying on the table face down. His flabby bottom facing her as his other fat rolls drooped from the sides of the table. Her clients came in all shapes and sizes so body types one way or the other didn’t do much for her. Something about him was making her dread touching him. She grabbed the oil, squirted it on her hands, and began rubbing his back. She’d never taken a real massage class. All she knew was to rub and squeeze and go by the client’s responses.

“Mmmm,” he moaned. “That’s nice.”

“You like that?” she asked, trying to sound sweet. She worked her way down his doughy back and along his ass, squeezing each of his cheeks and then his thighs. Once she was done, he rolled over onto his back. He was already fully erect when he rolled over. She massaged his chest and shoulders before applying more oil and going to work on his cock. She stroked his shaft while teasing his balls with her other hand, brushing it with her fingertips. His eyes rolled back into his head, and he let out a grunt and a moan as he shot his load all over her hand.

She continued stroking until he was all done and then grabbed a washcloth, cleaned off herself, and then cleaned off John. Once she was done he looked up at her, smiling.

“That was amazing. Talk about the magic touch.”

“I guess so. Time’s about up, too. So, perfect timing.” As she went to back away, he grabbed her wrist, firmly but gently.

“Can we go again? I’ll pay for it. I’ll pay double.”

As he touched her, a sharp pain shot through her head. It started in the front and worked its way back as if her brain was on fire. It only lasted a couple seconds, then it passed. She looked down at him, and he was still smiling at her as she ripped her hand away.

“No. I have another appointment coming.”

“Oh, come on. Don’t be like that. Just cancel him. You know I’ll pay more. Way more.”

She suddenly didn’t want him near her. Something had seemed off with him from the start. First, her initial revulsion, then when he grabbed her, whatever the fuck that was.

“This is a long-time client, so no.”

“You know, I could make you do it if I wanted to.”

“What is that supposed to mean? Is that a threat?”

He held his hand up at her and turned it to the side as if he were turning a dial. She looked at him confused.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

The smile disappeared from his face as he did it again.

“I told you, you need to leave. Keep this up and I’ll call the cops.”

He dropped his hand and turned, grabbing his clothes while throwing them on.

“Fine. I’m getting out of here. What the fuck is wrong with you, bitch?” he snarled. His whole tone and demeanor turning angry, bordering on rage.

“What? You better get the fuck out of here now!” she shouted. He pulled on his shirt and pants, slid on his shoes, grabbed his jacket and ran out of the apartment. Once he was out, she threw the deadbolt. What the fuck was that all about?

Chapter 12

Steve Barnard walked around his club. Well, it wasn’t technically his club, but he ran it. Normally the real owner, Henry J. Thomas was in by now and mingling. Usually at his table in the corner with half the girls in the club around while he threw money at them. Steve took another Aleve to calm his head. All the years managing clubs he never got used to the thump, thump, thumping of the club music. Year after year it all sounded the same to him. It was just noise. He personally preferred classic rock, or these days, silence.

Going home at the end of a long night, he enjoyed sitting in total silence. He didn’t even own a TV. There was plenty of noise in his life.

“Hey, Stevie!” Stoney Lawrence said as she walked up to him and began playing with his tie. Stoney was a tall blonde regular at the club. Steve used to give them an open tab until Henry took over. “You going to hook us up with some drinks tonight?”

“You know I can’t do that. The new boss has been watching the books a lot closer. He flips the fuck out on anyone caught stealing from him.” As in they tend to go missing.

“Oh, just this once. I brought my friend Elizabeth with me.”

She stepped to the side to show Elizabeth Harris sitting behind her. A few months before, he and Elizabeth had had a bit of a fling. Well, it went on for a couple months before she suddenly stopped calling and stopped coming to the club. Part of him hadn’t really cared. There was no real connection between them. He was a fifty-year-old club owner and she was a twenty-seven-year-old who, well he wasn’t even sure what she did. Their time together hadn’t involved a lot of get-to-know-you talk. It was pretty much straight sex, and Elizabeth was a fucking monster.

At his age, recovery time wasn’t the greatest, but she just wanted to go and go and go. It was exhausting, but fun. She turned him on so much, he hadn’t gotten off so many times in years. Since she stopped calling he hadn’t seen her until Stoney moved to the side. Elizabeth was sitting at a table in a low cut red top with spaghetti straps and her boobs about to pop out. God, he used to suck on those things endlessly.

“She said she misses you,” Stoney said.

“Really? That’s why she hasn’t shown up or called in three months?”

“Oh, don’t be like that. She’s just been busy. You know how it goes.”

“I guess so.”

“So what do ya say?” She stopped playing with his tie and began running her finger along his chest.

“Ok. One round on me. After that, you’re on your own.”

“Thank you, honey. You want to come say hi?”

“I guess, sure.”

They walked over to the table but Elizabeth continued on her phone.

“Hey Liz, look who’s here?”

Elizabeth continued playing on her phone and just said “Hey.”

“Hi, Elizabeth. It’s been awhile. How you been?”

“I’m all right. I see you still work here.”

“Yeah. It’s my job. Has been for a long time.”

“Cool.”

He looked at Stoney who shrugged.

“Missed me, huh?”

“She did for real! Liz! Why are you blowing him off?”

“Did you get our drinks or what?” She finally put the phone down. “I mean if I suck your dick will that get us free drinks?”

Jesus Christ. What was it with these girls and demanding free shit?

The music stopped right before someone screamed from the back of the club. People stopped and began looking around.

“Jesus Christ, what now?” Steve said as he made his way toward the screaming. There was a weird smell through the club like something was burning.

“The doors are locked!” One man yelled as he stood at one of the exits pushing on the emergency door. That shouldn’t be, those doors only lock from the outside. Steve walked around trying to figure out what was happening when there was an explosion from the other side. He dove to the ground as debris rained down around them. One woman fell to the floor next to him, but there was a huge chunk of metal lodged in one side of her face. Her good eye remained open in an empty stare until he jumped to his feet.

“What the fuck!” He called out as the club began to fill with smoke, and fire roared out of the back office and into the main club. People ran to the exits and began pounding and kicking but the doors wouldn’t give. He ran into the kitchen to try the doors there. Both kitchen exits were locked or jammed shut also. Panic began to set in as he rushed back to the club where complete chaos has set in. People were fighting with the exit doors and with each other. Bodies lay on the floor from having been trampled.

Parts of the club were now fully engulfed in flames. Stoney ran up to him and grabbed him while screaming. Her hair was on fire in a huge white plume. The smell of burned hair and flesh stung his nose as he tried to back away. He didn’t want her to catch him on fire. She shrieked as her skin popped and melted while the flames worked their way down her head and along her face. Her flesh blistered as Steve finally pushed her away. She wasn’t giving up. What the fuck did she want from him?

He finally shoved her off him and she lay on the ground, burning. His sleeve caught fire as he pushed her off. He quickly removed his jacket, but the fire had already burned through his clothes, catching his arm on fire. He tried to wave his arm to put the fire out and then tried to smother it with his jacket but it had spread up his back and onto his tie. The pain came all at once, screaming through his entire body as the white hot flames licked his flesh and clothing.

He turned to try and run to anywhere he could only to plow right into Elizabeth. They both fell to the ground with him on top of her. The smoke, heat and flames made Steve’s head feel like it could explode. Elizabeth pushed him from her back.

“Get off me! Help! Get off me!” She screamed. Suddenly he didn’t to move. He wrapped his arms around her and held her to him. “What are you doing?! You’re on fire. Oh God! I don’t wanna die!”

“That’s right, bitch! You’re gonna burn with me!” he yelled as the flames caught her hair. She must have had a lot of hair product on, as her head went up in a WHOOSH! She screamed and flailed as the fire slowly cooked both of them alive. Her eyeballs popped from the heat as her face sizzled and melted off her skull. For his last few moments of life, Steve forgot about the pain. All he could think about was his raging erection and how he wished he could fuck Elizabeth as they burned.

Chapter 13

Henry ran out of Sable’s apartment and to his car. He slammed the car door shut and gripped the wheel while trying to catch his breath.

“What the motherfucking fuck!” he screamed as he punched the wheel. He had her. She was right there, the NecroWitch, as Jimmy had called her. Was she immune to him? How was that possible? So far, his ability had worked on everybody. Except, she had been the only other person he’d run into with any kind of ability. He replayed the encounter in his head. The hand-job was amazing. Like seriously, toe-curlingly incredible. Her hands were so soft, and her touch just right at every step until he’d blown his load. He’d had many hand-jobs in his life, but this one was one for the books.

When he’d tried to use his gift on her, though, she’d just stood there and looked at him. For a minute he’d thought she was about to kick his ass. She probably could, too. She was in far better shape than he. Henry had never needed to be in any kind of shape, especially now. For whatever reason, his gift just didn’t work on her. He didn’t like that one bit. This would not do. He tried to imagine the things he could accomplish with her working for him. He wouldn’t even need to interrogate anyone, just kill them and turn her loose on their body.

He wondered if handling dead people’s insides were how her hands stayed so soft. The thought made him cringe, but he was pleased with the end result. He began to adjust his shirt when his phone rang. It was Jimmy.

“Jesus fuck!” Jimmy screamed.

“What?”

“The club, those fuckers burned it all down! It’s a mess. The whole place is gone, everyone is dead. There were over a hundred people inside!”

“Yes. I know.”

“You know? What the fuck?” Henry was sure Jimmy’s voice had just cracked.

“Yes. That’s why I didn’t go there tonight. I knew they were going to try and kill me. I had one of my drivers drop my car off outside. Now Beltran, and probably Esteban, will think I’m dead.”

“Jesus Christ, boss.”

“Is there a problem?”

“No. No sir. Just. Wow. I was just at the scene. It looks horrible and smells fucking worse, man.”

“Ok then. I’m headed back to the house. You can meet me there later if you want.”

“Ok, sure.”

Henry drove back to the mansion and headed inside. Instead of his office, he went into one of the rooms in the furthest wing of the home. It had previously been used for storage, but he’d found another purpose for it now. He stepped inside as his man stood and looked around. The woman and boy were against the wall hanging from meat hooks. The boy looked dazed while the woman just hung there sobbing.

“It’s ok,” he told his man. “You can step out for a few. I need to get some things out of my system.”

“No problem, boss.”

As the man stepped out, Henry looked them up and down. This was Kellen List’s wife and little boy. The woman looked up at him.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Henry. I’m the one doing this to you.”

“Why?”

“Well partly to make your husband do what I want. The other part is for fun. What is your name?”

“Debra Bergevin.”

“Well, Debra. I was going to hold off for a while on hurting you and your boy. I prefer to keep you around as leverage. But some things happened tonight that really got under my skin. So I need to blow off some steam. Unfortunately, I will be taking it all out on you.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

He was impressed at how she had stopped crying and was putting on a brave front. She glared at him defiantly.

“You got a lot of spirit. I like that.” He walked to a table in the corner and dragged it across the room. The thing made far more noise than he would have liked, almost echoing through the whole room as he scooted it just a few feet in front of them. “But what it means,” he said as he pulled the sheet off the table, revealing an assortment of tools, knives, and various other instruments. “Is that I’m going to hurt you really badly. And I mean it’s going to fucking hurt a lot.”

“Why don’t you go fuck yourself!” She screamed.

He turned and smiled.

“See? I like that.”

Then she spat in his face. Henry took a deep breath as he wiped his face with his sleeve. What he wanted to do was grab one of the knives and peel her face off, but not yet. He could easily use his power on them, but tonight’s mood called for something special. He turned to the table and looked at the tools as Debra began screaming insults at him. He closed his eyes, trying to focus.

There was a part of him that caused him to hesitate. That part of him was his old self. Before he ever got involved in any kind of crime.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” he said.

“Or what? You’re already going to kill us. You don’t have to, you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“What do you mean, what do I mean? You’re the one in charge. You’re in control. You could let us go, you could at least let my son go. You call the shots.”

“It’s not quite that simple. I’m not as in control as I may appear. A fear years ago I was engaged. Wonderful lady, too. Her name was Rebecca. I wanted to give her a big wedding, but I ran a shitty little pawn shop. So I started selling some pot on the side. I had my store customers, then my other customers. The money was good, but not great. Made a few hundred extra a week.” He picked up a knife and looked at it before setting it back down.

“So I started moving brown sugar. You know, heroin. Then the cash was pouring in. I mean holy shit. You’d be amazed who shoots up in this town. So I started making arrangements for the wedding when one day I stopped by Rebecca’s work to surprise her for lunch. You know what they tell me? They told me she quit her job two months ago! I mean am I fucking stupid? Two fucking months! So I hired a private investigator to have her followed. Turns out she’s banging some guy she used to work with. She figured I was making enough money now; she didn’t need to work. I worked a lot of hours, sure. So instead, she quits her job, doesn’t tell me, and each day she’s going to see her boyfriend. Even when he’s at work, she’s hanging out at his place like she fucking lives there. She cooked him dinner and everything. Fuck me. I was such an idiot.”

“An idiot for being fooled or for working so much?”

“Both, I guess,” he said.

“Did you hurt her? When you found out?”

“What? Oh no. No. No. I threw her out of the house. Told her to go stay with her stupid boyfriend. You know what is the funny part? A month later we found out he was married! Isn’t that some shit! His wife works for a pharmaceutical company and was out of town sometimes for weeks on end. Oh yeah. Stupid bitch.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

“So yeah, from there I just went full steam ahead into the criminal underworld. I mean, why not? I got money, I’m getting laid. But the guys I worked for, let me tell you. These were some scary fucking guys. You get even a little out of line, your money is even a little short one day, or they just don’t like the look on your face and you’re dead. Since I’m not Mexican I can’t actually join the cartel or any of the gangs around here unless I ride a motorcycle.”

“So, I pretty much resigned myself to never being more than a step or two above a street dealer. That is, until something weird happened.”

“What happened?” she asked. He was amazed at how calm she’d gotten while talking to him and hanging from a meat hook. He knew she was trying to humanize herself and her boy so he wouldn’t hurt them. At least this was somewhat therapeutic for him.

“I’m not sure, honestly. One day one of the kids who worked in my stock room dropped a TV. I mean this was a beautiful flat screen. Busted it to fucking pieces. This kid, like he’s in his twenties, I think; he’s all freaked out. I ran over to him like ‘what the fuck did you do?’ And had my hands up. I was pretty riled too. Not sure if it was my sudden burst of emotion or what, but suddenly I could see everything the kid was feeling. All the pain, fear and sorrow he’d ever felt. I knew all about him getting hit by a car as a kid, getting beat up at school and breaking his leg playing football.”

“I must have somehow channeled it back at him because he suddenly screamed, turned around and ran out the door. The kid never came back. I’m standing there like, what the fuck just happened? So over the next few weeks, I tried it out here and there on some employees. Even customers sometimes. It’s somehow attached to my hand. I lift my hand and start focusing on their mind and I can feel what they feel. I can redirect that pain back into their mind, like a weapon, kind of. It didn’t always go so well. Almost killed one girl who worked for me. That would have been tough to explain. A bunch of employees quit during that time, that or just never came back to work at all.”

"So a few weeks later I had a meet up with a guy named Spider.”

“Spider?”

“Yeah. He was a real shithead. So I use my new power on him and one of his thugs. Blew out the back of their fucking skulls without even touching them! You should have seen it. It was crazy shit. I’m like holy shit! Did I do that? Oh, and let me tell you, the arousal. I’m not kidding you. It fucking turned me on! I was so horny after, I had the biggest hard-on of my life. It was crazy. Every time I do it, it’s like holy shit! Boner city. So from that day, I knew what I could do and everything changed.”

“But you didn’t change. You’re still you. Just because you can do this thing doesn’t mean you have to. You can walk away right now. You can use that ability for good. You got plenty of money, move to somewhere really nice and make a fresh start. You have the choice.”

She had a point. Up until this moment, all the pain and death he’d ever inflicted had been using his own ability.

“See? That’s why I say it’s not that simple. Each time I do it, something changes inside me. It’s like whatever it is, there is something behind it. It takes over a little more each time.”

“Then just stop.”

“I can’t!” He ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s not that simple, ok? I can’t just stop. It’s almost like it’s hungry. Now that it’s been fed it wants more and more. So this is what I do.” He turned and picked up one of the knives. He’d never in his life had the urge to do what he was about to do. Yet at this very moment, he was like a fifteen-year-old in the shower with a raging hard on. Only one thing would fix it, and that was to rub one out.

“So what are you going to do?” Debra asked. “You going to kill me? Torture me? Or can you at least set my son free?”

He took a deep breath as he picked up one of the knives and turned around.

“As a matter of fact, I am,” he said. He turned to her son and grabbed the boy’s hair as he started screaming.

“What? Why?” she screamed.

“Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!” the boy screamed as Henry sliced through the skin at the top of his head and continued cutting away. The boy thrashed and screamed helplessly as Debra began screaming as well. Her outward toughness had faded away just like that. Henry continued slicing while pulling on the boy’s hair until the scalp ripped free. The boy shrieked in terror as Henry held up the scalp to Debra.

“I will torture you. But you get to watch me kill your son first.”

Chapter 14

Sable woke up to her phone buzzing on the coffee table. She’d fallen asleep on her mom’s couch. After the creepy guy had left the night before, she’d stopped to see her mom, who was gradually getting worse. A small part of her wished if her mom was going to die, at least let her die quickly and painlessly. This slowly withering away was just too much for her. She had no idea how her mom could even bear it. Her mom was sound asleep when she arrived, but Sable had just felt the need to be near her.

She picked up the phone and saw it was Maria was calling.

“What time is it?” Sable asked into the phone.

“It’s almost nine, bitch,” Maria said. “So I take it you haven’t heard?”

“Heard what?”

“Some nightclub burned down last night. Like while everyone was inside. They said on the news over a hundred people were burned alive. That’s fucked up! CNN and all the networks are out there.”

“Holy shit,” Sable said. “Why did you have to call me so early? You know I was working last night.”

“Because it’s fucked up. You think you can help them? Maybe like interview the dead like you do to find out who did it.”

“I can’t. The only time it doesn’t work is if they’ve been burned. It’s like there is nothing left for me to feel. So they’re just gone.”

“Wow, that sucks. You want to go get breakfast?”

“What the fuck? You just called to tell me about people burned alive and now you want to go eat?”

“Shit, I’m still hungry. You’re the one who fondles dead people.”

“I don’t fondle them, dumbass.”

“I know. Meet me at Jim’s in an hour,” Maria said before she hung up. Jim’s was a chain of family restaurants around the San Antonio area. An hour later, Sable was sitting in Jim’s as Maria came walking in. She sat down and they ordered their food. Maria looked over at Sable.

“What’s wrong? You’re quiet today.”

“Well someone woke me up, for one.”

“Whatever, I was hungry.”

“Yeah. That and just…I don’t know. This guy last night was creepy as fuck.”

“Really? Why? What did he do?”

“That’s just it. I mean right when he walked in. Something about him just gave me chills.”

“What did he want? You shove a brick up his ass or something?”

“No, that was the other thing. He paid like over a thousand for a fucking happy ending massage. I mean it was easy money. Then he gets all mad I won’t go for a second time. I told him I had another appointment, which I did, even though that guy canceled later, but still. He flipped out and started moving his hands around all weird, like he was waving his hands at me. Then he freaked out and ran.”

“You always get the weirdest mother fuckers. Why not just be a stripper like a normal person?”

“I’m not going to work in some nasty ass club getting groped by drunks. Besides, I don’t want to get burned down.”

“That wasn’t a strip club. Was one of the upscale ones.”

“Which one was it?”

“Had a weird name. Kluzos Martini bar. Supposed to be all classy and shit.”

“Oh my God. I was at that place once,” Sable said. “God, they were such assholes. I was there on a date. They kicked us out because they didn’t like my shoes.”

“What the fuck?”

“Yeah they had a stupid dress code. They let us in but then one of the bouncers said my shoes were too loud.”

“You wore the zebra ones?”

“Fuck yeah! I love my fucking zebra shoes.”

“I’d have thrown you out too,” Maria said as their food arrived. She immediately stabbed her omelet with her fork as she spoke.

“Well fuck you. I’m glad they burned the fuck down.”

“Jesus Sable! A lot of people died!”

“If they were hanging out there, they were probably stuck up assholes.”

“Right? So what’s the plan for today?”

“I don’t know. Apparently sleeping is out.”

“You said that guy paid you a few thousand last night; you should take me shopping.”

“Oh, I should, huh?”

“Fuck yeah. I’m just the loser with the real job. Seriously I wish I had the balls you do. I’d do what you do if I knew my family wouldn’t disown me.”

“At least you have a family.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. How is your mom?”

“Not good. The nurse said last night they are just keeping her comfortable.” Sable looked down and mixed her scrambled eggs around her plate with her fork, but had only taken a bite or two.

“Man, that sucks. I’m so sorry. I would take you shopping but I’m broke.”

“No, it's ok. Maybe I’ll take you just to get my mind off things. This past week has been creepers and dead people.”

“You find anything else out on those weirdos you felt up the other night? The guy with the severed head?”

“No. I have no idea. Whatever happened to him is fucking weird. I just get the info for Santiago and he does whatever. I don’t get involved.”

“Don’t you ever wonder, like if the info you provide gets someone killed?”

“I used to. But these guys are all douchebag criminals. So why should I give a shit if they kill each other? If anything, I’m performing a service.”

“I guess that’s one way to look at it. You ever thought of like using your powers for good?”

“You mean like Spiderman?”

“Maybe. Can you shoot webs out of your vag?”

“Fuck, I wish. I’d take that over this one, any day.”

“You think that’s all you can do? I mean, have you ever tried anything else?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. You can wake up the dead right. Like as long as you’re touching their guts or whatever.”

“Yeah.”

“Ever made one like sit up or stand up?”

“No. Why would I?”

“I don’t know. Maybe Eugene would know. He seemed to know a lot about your whole NecroWitch thing.”

Sable shook her head.

“That guy. I have a feeling whatever I am is way out of your friend’s realm of knowledge.”

“Maybe. We have another meeting tonight. You should come by. They’d all love that.”

“Thanks, but I’m going to spend tonight with mom. Not sure how many more nights she has left.”

“Yeah. Well, I guess I’ll give you that this once. You done eating?” Maria asked.

“Almost.”

“Hurry up. I need a new purse.”

Chapter 15

Debra hung from the meat hook trying to scream. Over the past few hours, she had screamed so much her throat had gone hoarse as she watched Henry do the most unspeakable things to her little boy. She closed her eyes as he cried for his mommy to save him. Except she was helpless to save herself, let alone her only child. His screams at one point didn’t even sound human.

Henry had a twisted smile on his face as he peeled the skin from the boy’s body inch by inch. She cringed as she heard her son’s bones snap or the squishing sounds it made when Henry cut into him. It was more than she could take. Finally, he went silent. Debra knew that meant he was dead, but it also meant his suffering was over. Henry set his tools down on the table and looked up at Debra.

“Well, that was fun. Tiring, but fun.” He waved his bloody hands at the boy’s dangling corpse. “I’ve never done anything like that. Hell, I had no idea a kid so small could withstand so much. He was a trooper.”

“Fuck you! Fuck you, you worthless fucking prick!”

“I’m glad to see you’ve simplified the conversation.”

“Why don’t you untie me and kill me when I’m not so helpless?”

“I could. But that’s no fun. I’m working on a form of art here. I need to focus. Can’t have you all flailing around.” He waved his arms at his sides as he spoke. He grabbed a smaller knife from the table and walked up to Debra. Using the knife he cut away her blouse, then her pants, before finally slicing off her underwear and leaving her totally naked. She hung there glaring at him. Henry was impressed. She still had a lot of fight left in her after what he’d done to her son. That fight wasn’t going to last very much longer, however.

He reached under the table and grabbed a cord, walked to the wall and plugged it in. Back at the table he turned and faced her holding an item in his hand. A speed sander.

“So you seem a little rough around the edges,” he said as he revved the engine. “Time to smooth things over.”

He pressed the sander against her stomach. The sander burned into her flesh as the rapid speed and rotation hurled chunks of blood and flesh into all directions. He took a step back and looked at his hands and felt his face.

“Hang on a second,” he said as he walked to the table and grabbed a set of safety goggles and put them on. “There we go. Safety first, you know.”

He revved the sander back up and pressed it against her left breast. She screamed and gyrated as globs of tissue, blood, and flesh flung in every direction as the sander burned right through. He pulled the sander away and examined the remains of her breast. It looked like a gory, blown tire. It sagged as thick yellow and red tissue oozed out. He pressed the sander against her other breast as she screamed yet again. She flailed around helplessly on the hook as he pressed the sander harder and harder against her skin. He almost gagged when a clump of flesh shot into his mouth. He stopped for a few minutes to spit it out. He managed to keep from throwing up in the process.

After coughing up a storm, he looked at her. There was no fight left in her. She hung there, her head sagging, staring down at her mutilated and deflated tits. He walked over to her as she looked up at him. Her eyes still glared at him through her blood soaked face. He grabbed a handful of her hair with one hand, and with the other fired up the sander and pressed it against the side of her face. She screamed and wailed as he used her hair to hold the head steady while moving the sander all around. The whirring sound of the sander filled the room along with the sounds of her screams and ripping flesh splattering against the walls and floor.

After a few minutes, her whole face was an unrecognizable mess of dark red ribbons. He tossed the sander down and walked out of the room. Several of his men were standing there with horrified looks on their faces. He glanced back and forth at them.

“What? You guys act like I just killed your dog or something. I’d never hurt an animal. Now go clean that mess up.” He took a few steps and stopped. “Actually. Leave them there and have Kellen List come and see me.”

He went up the stairs and to his room, into the bathroom. No wonder his men looked so horrified at him. His face, hands, and clothing were saturated. He peeled off his sticky clothes, threw them onto the floor, and climbed into the shower. As the hot water poured over him, he watched the blood run off his body and down the drain. This was the first time he’d really killed someone. Granted, he’d killed a lot in the past few weeks. Maybe a dozen or more men lost their lives, but he hadn’t put his hands on any of them.

After what he’d just experienced, he could understand serial killers. While killing his way did come with a certain power and extreme arousal, this way there was something primal about it. Something savage. Looking down, he saw his erection was back and harder than ever. He squirted some body wash into his hands and rubbed them together, making a nice, foamy lather. Looking up at the ceiling, he closed his eyes and began rubbing his cock with his soapy hands.

He thought about Debra and her son’s mutilated corpses hanging there as he grew harder and harder. He immediately regretted not fucking her greasy dead body. Her pussy would have been so soft and warm with all that fresh blood. He let out a sigh as he ejaculated, shooting his load into the drain. He turned off the water and toweled off before pulling his robe on. As he stepped into the bedroom, Jimmy was sitting on the bed playing on his phone. He jumped up at the sight of his boss.

“Jimmy? What the hell are you doing here?”

“Thought you’d want to know, Beltran and Esteban are planning a meet. I texted you the address. Not sure what it’s about. I’m sure they are discussing if you’re dead, the fire and everything else we’ve done.”

“Ok. Good.”

“Also, Kellen List is here. He’s downstairs.”

“Fine. When is the meeting?”

“In a couple hours.”

“Good. I’ll get ready and we’ll head to the meeting. Lock Kellen in the room with his dead wife and kid.”

Chapter 16

Beltran sat in empty office building until Esteban showed up. He came walking inside and looked around. Just like they’d agreed to on the phone, Esteban was alone. Not even his private security came along. He walked inside and looked around. Beltran was sitting at a lone desk in the corner. There was a small chair across from him.

“So what is this all about?” Esteban asked.

“It would seem the string of odd deaths from both our crews came from one of your guys.”

Esteban glared at him and leaned across the desk.

“Oh really? How do I know it’s not one of yours? Who’s to say you didn’t set this whole thing up just to start some kind of a war?”

“Henry J. Thomas.”

“Who the fuck is that?”

“Who is that? Santiago, he’s your fucking guy. Pawn shop owner. Street dealer from the looks of it. Sells your crap out of the back of his shithole store.”

Esteban nodded. The guy who’d killed his men. The guy Sable told him about. He remembered the little shithead getting away that night.

“So what about him?”

“So he’s taken out both our men. I’m still not sure how. Security footage at one of my bars shows him doing something. They fell like they were being shot, but he had no gun in his hand. So, fuck if I know. Doesn’t matter anyway. He’s dead now.”

“My club,” Esteban said.

“It wasn’t really your club. I mean he’d pretty much taken it over and was hanging out there every night. I’m not sure how you can be so out of the loop in your own organization. I took extreme measures. Sent my guys in and yeah, we fucking burned it to the ground.”

“You asshole! I had men in there. Some of my whores were in there.”

“You can buy new ones. Whatever the deal was with this guy, if you could see what he did, well I wasn’t going to put anyone in a room with him. No. I was going to trap him like the fucking dirty weasel he is and burn his ass to the ground. That’s exactly what I did. I would have told you ahead of time, but I couldn’t take the risk. Had to keep it quiet. But now it’s over and done. Back to business as usual.”

Esteban considered this for a moment before hearing the door behind him swing open.

“Gentlemen! Glad I could get you both in the same place!” The man said as he walked toward them. Henry J. Thomas approached them as Beltran climbed out of his chair.

“No, don’t get up on my behalf.”

“You cocksucker!” Esteban yelled as he reached for a gun. Before he could get his hand on it, Henry had raised his hand, sending Esteban to his knees.

“Oh shit!” He screamed as his hands hung at his sides. Henry twisted his hand slowly from side to side while Beltran watched.

“What are you doing to him?” Beltran asked.

“Oh, just a little trick I learned. You know, I’ve had a bit of an awakening here lately. I’ve learned a few things about myself. And dammit, I think it’s about time I lived up to my full potential.”

Beltran looked on while Henry used one hand to control Esteban, and massaged his erection through his pants with his other hand. Henry slapped his hand shit into a fist as the back of Esteban’s head burst open. Chunks of blood and goo ran from his ears as his lifeless body hit the floor.

“What the fuck?” Beltran yelled as he jumped out of his seat. “What the hell are you?”

“I think that’s obvious, isn’t it? I’m death personified.” Henry pointed his fingers like a gun at Beltran and jerked his finger.

“Pew! Pew!” he said as Beltran’s head jerked back as the back of his skull also exploded. Once he hit the ground, Henry took out his phone and called Jimmy.

“Yeah, get in here. It’s done.”

Moments later, Jimmy arrived and looked at the bodies with a mix of horror and dread.

“Should I uh, clean this up, boss?” he asked.

“Yes. But first cut off their heads for me.”

Jimmy’s face turned white, but he did as he was told before throwing up in the back room. When he came out several minutes later, Henry was finished doing his thing. His hands were all bloody, and he took out a package of wet naps from his pocket, trying to wipe the blood with them. They were saturated in seconds. He tossed them aside and looked at Jimmy.

“Ok, now take me to that crazy whore witch lady.”

“Sable? You want another massage or something?”

“No, smart ass. Now I know what she can do, I need to see if she’ll work for me. That reminds me. Bag his head up for me. I got an idea.”

“Jesus, Mr. Thomas. Do I…”

“Yes! Just do it. There’s a duffel bag in the trunk. Just empty it out and bring it here, put the head in it, and we’ll head to her place.”

Jimmy went and did what he was told. Within the hour, they were at Sable’s apartment. He could hear two girls laughing from inside. He knocked again, this time louder. She opened the door and immediately froze.

“You,” she said.

“Hi. Sorry to bother you this way. I first want to tell you, my name isn’t really John.”

“I know. Everyone says their name is John. That’s why we call you guys Johns.”

“Right. May I come in?”

“You shouldn’t be here. You don’t have an appointment and I don’t take walk-ins. I’m off today.”

“Trust me. You want to hear what I have to say.”

For the first time in a while, he felt nervous as to how this was going to go. Unlike the other situations, he wasn’t as in control here. His powers didn’t work on Sable. At least, they hadn’t the last time.

“I don’t want to hear shit. Now get the fuck out of here!”

“Jimmy!” Henry called just down the hall. Jimmy walked up with the duffel bag as Henry reached into it and pulled out Esteban’s head. He tossed it to Sable who caught it as if it were a soccer ball. She looked at the head, and then back up at Henry.

“Like I said, you’re going to want to hear this.”

Chapter 17

Sable sat on her couch holding hands with Maria who was trembling as Henry and his thug, Jimmy, sat across from them. Thankfully they’d put Esteban’s severed head back into the bag. Henry had been talking for a while, apparently offering her a job.

“So, as I’m sure you can understand, our line of work comes with certain hazards. Santiago knew this as much as anyone. You had to, you read dozens of people that he’d killed. Well, we’ve had a change in management, as you can see. His rival, Beltran, is also dead. So that leaves me running this whole territory. Except, I’m not going to stop with this city. I mean, with you helping me, no reason I can’t move into Austin, Houston, and even Dallas. I’ve heard all about what you can do. I have a few tricks up my sleeve as well.”

“I’ve heard.”

He laughed as he nodded.

“Yes. I suppose you have, haven’t you? So what do you think? I mean you’d be doing the same thing for me that you’d done for Esteban. Maybe a little more frequently. I’ll pay you double what he paid. You can quit your little side job here if you want. You can still do your dominatrix thing if you want, but I’ll leave that up to you. Either way, a very simple proposition. I’m just visiting you as a courtesy. I figured you’d rather hear from me first before seeing Esteban’s body on the news. So far, all of Esteban’s and Beltran’s men are either dead or working for me now.”

She looked at Maria, whose color had gone from her face. Sable felt bad she’d had to hear any of this. She wished she’d never let Maria into this part of her world. This was not Maria’s world at all.

“I need to think about it.”

“Really? You just heard the options right?”

“I heard you. Let me think about it.”

“What is there to think about?”

“I don’t even know what you are.”

“Neither do I, really. Look, I get it. You felt safe with Esteban because you’re different from him. You are special. He wasn’t, and you both knew it. That gave you the upper hand. With me, we’re both the same. We both can do things no one else can. You no longer have that upper hand. You don’t have that safe feeling. I get it. But I assure you, I have no desire to use my powers against you. As long as you do your job and stay loyal to me as you did with Esteban, everything will be totally fine.”

“Right. Like I said. I’ll think about it.”

Henry sighed and looked at Jimmy.

“Fine. You have forty-eight hours. I’ll call you then, and you will have an answer. I think you’ll make the right decision.” He stood, and Jimmy stood with him. She wondered if Jimmy could play fetch too. Henry nodded and walked out. As soon as they were gone, Sable got up and dead-bolted the door. She turned and looked at Maria.

“You’re not going to do it are you?” Maria asked. “These are the kind of people you’ve been working for?”

“Don’t start that. You knew what I’ve been doing. You went along one time.”

“Yeah, I guess seeing a severed head made it more real. Jesus.”

“Well Esteban was a criminal. Remember what I said? Scum killing scum. Except he’s different.”

“Yeah what power is he talking about? Can he read dead people’s guts too?”

“No. His is different. A few of the bodies I read were killed by him. He can do this thing. I don’t even know what it’s called. He can, like, read a person’s mind and use their own pain and suffering against them. He turns it into a weapon. Apparently he can kill you with it.”

“Holy shit,” Maria said.

“Yeah. If I don’t work for him, like he said, he’ll kill me.”

“What if we leave? Just pack up and get out of the city. Leave the state. We can go to L.A. like we’ve talked about. We’ve both wanted to visit there for years. You’ve got plenty of money.”

“I know. But mom. I can’t take her.”

Maria hung her head.

“Yeah, I know. She doesn’t have much time left. You think she could come with us?”

“No. She’s too weak. I’d have to hire a private ambulance to transport her and that drive could kill her.”

“Well I don’t know, Sable. You looked scared around him. I’ve never seen you that scared.”

“I know. I usually can’t read anything off of the living. It’s like I’m a psychic but only for the dead. This guy, though, he gives off this dark energy. It, like, radiates from him. Never felt it on anyone else, ever. I have no idea why, or what it means, other than it’s related to his weird powers.”

“That is so creepy.”

“Well, that and the severed head he’s carrying around. I have one question, though.”

“What’s that?” Maria asked.

“How did he even know about me?”

“Good question. I don’t know. Esteban told him?”

“Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know.”

“How about your witch friends? Or that Eugene guy. You think he’s ever heard of Henry or people like him?”

“He may know something.”

“He knew all about me, so just a thought.”

“We can go talk to him. Can’t hurt.”

“Good idea.”

“I thought you said my friends were kooks.”

“I never said that. I just know what I can do is just a part of me and it's scary. I don’t know why anyone would seek any kind of powers like this out.”

“You’d give it up if you could?”

“Fuck yeah, I would. Believe it or not, fondling dead people’s insides isn’t as fun as it sounds.”

“No. I imagine not.”

They left the apartment and headed to Eugene’s. They arrived at the large home about twenty minutes later. When they walked up to the front, the door swung open. Eugene was there, his white hair combed straight back, and he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

“Ladies! So good to see you!” He said with a huge smile.

“Thank,” Maria said. “Were you going somewhere? We come at a bad time?”

“Not at all! I’ve been expecting you.”

Chapter 18

“Expecting us, how?” Sable asked.

“Oh, I don’t know. I sometimes just know things. Part of the witchy ways!” he said as he nudged Maria. He laughed a lame but forced laugh. Neither of the girls were in a laughing mood.

“Some guy who can make people’s heads explode by waving his hands just brought a severed head to my place and wants me to do my necro stuff for him or he says he’ll kill me. You ever heard of someone that can do that? Or know what I can do about it?”

“Oh my! That sounds awful. Did you wash your hands?”

Sable turned and grabbed Maria’s arm.

“Let’s get out of here.”

“No! No! Wait!” Eugene called out. “I’m sorry. I tend to make jokes a lot. I try to anyway, Kind of lightens the mood. Come on in. Let’s talk.”

They walked inside and sat down as Eugene sat across from them.

“So, I think I’ve heard of this before. It sounds familiar. Tell me what you know.”

“His name is Henry. Henry J. Thomas. He’s like the new, big crime boss around town. One of the bodies I read told me what he can do. He holds his hands out and can make you feel your own pain. He snuck into my place a while back pretending to be a John. I even jerked him off. Oh my God! I feel so disgusted now. No wonder I felt creeped out by him the whole time. I had no idea who he was.”

“It’s ok,” Eugene said. “Just calm down. It’s fine. Wait. Why did you jerk him off?”

“She’s a dominatrix,” Maria said. “Well, kind of. She’s a full-time sex worker. So yeah this guy paid to be a client.”

“But I didn’t know who he was. I get new people all the time. He paid a lot of money. I should have known something was up.”

“It’s fine,” Eugene said. “This thing he does, I’ve not heard of that before. I mean that’s extraordinary if it is just like you say. Almost more extraordinary than a NecroWitch.”

“Thanks.”

“No, I don’t mean that…I’m sorry. Never mind. I’ll have to do some research. Maybe I’ll check with the elders.”

“Elders?” Sable said.

“Yes. You know the older witches in our coven. They are very wise and experienced.”

“How fucking old? You’re what? Sixty?”

“Jesus, Sable,” Maria said.

“I’m fifty-two. I know the white hair makes me look older. I get that a lot. It’s ok.” Eugene stopped as his phone rang from his pocket. He dug it out and a look of concern crossed his face as he answered. “Um…hello? Yes. Yes. Yes she is here. Her friend is with her. You want to what? I—I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Ok. Ok fine here.” He held the phone out to Sable. “He wants to talk to you.”

“What? Who?” She took the phone and held it to her ear. “Hello?”

“Sable! It's Henry! Good talking to you again. It’s been…wow almost a few hours!”

She looked up at Eugene with a stare that could have turned him to stone. He sunk into his chair as she glared at him.

“What the fuck?”

“Yeah. I know I said you had forty-eight hours, but as it turns out. I’m not big on patience. So I’m going to send you a picture.”

Sable held the phone out and a photo appeared on the screen. In the photo was her mom lying in bed with a strip of duct tape over her mouth and Henry leaning over her holding a knife.

“Motherfucker!”

“Now, I know it’s tough to see. But your mom is really sick anyway. I mean she has what, a few months left at best? She’s in a lot of pain too. So here’s the deal. Come work for me like now. Or I’ll cut every tumor out of your mom’s body. This sound like a better deal for you?”

Sable’s grip tightened on the phone. Her fingers turned white as she spoke.

“Don’t hurt her. Ok? I’ll work for you. Fuck. What do you want me to do?”

“Meet me at the Chesty Chola. It’s a strip club.”

“Yes. I’m familiar with it.”

“Good. Meet me in the parking lot in two hours. If you’re not there, I’ll cut out her tumors, deep fry them and send you a video of myself eating them. You understand?”

“Yes. Yes. Fuck. I get it.”

“Good,” Henry said as he hung up. Sable stood and hurled the phone at Eugene. The large smartphone clunked off his head like a brick. He cried out as it cracked against his forehead, splitting his skin open as a trail of blood ran down his head and face.”

“Sable! What’s going on?” Maria asked.

“I’m sorry!” Eugene said.

“Your fucking coven leader here sold us out to Henry. No telling how long he’s been feeding him shit.”

“What?”

“It’s not like that, ok? He came to me first, after the first night Sable was here. He’d been following her. He used his trick on me. It was just like you said. It was horrible. I’d do anything to make it stop.”

“So you handed me over to him.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Fuck.”

She looked at Maria.

“He’s got mom. He’s going to cut her all up if I don’t work for him. He wants me to meet him at the Chola in a couple of hours.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“No. I already put you in enough danger. So has asshole here. Just go back to my place.” She turned and pointed at Eugene. “And you, I should fucking kill you right now, then bring you back to torture you.”

“Please don’t! I’m so sorry!” Eugene was near sobbing at this point. He looked so pathetic, Sable could only shake her head as she and Maria headed out the door. What they didn’t see after they left was Eugene wiping the blood from his forehead as he stopped his fake crying. He picked up the phone and dialed Henry’s number.

“Yes, it’s me. They just left. Sable is on her way there. Her friend is going back to Sable’s apartment.”

Chapter 19

Henry sat in the VIP section of the Chesty Chola as some kind of 90’s techno music blasted over the speakers. He hadn’t been to the place in a while. He could afford somewhere more upscale, but there was a simple feeling to the Chola he liked. Especially the girl who was coming up to him. She was a beautiful, petite blonde with a huge rack. She was wearing high heels and a pink bikini. She leaned over him as he handed her a twenty-dollar bill.

“Hey you,” she said.

“Well hi! What’s your name?”

“Mirage.”

“No it isn’t.”

“It is too!” she leaned back and playfully slapped his arm.

“What’s your real name?”

“I can’t tell you that!”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of bills and handed it to her.

“Sure you can.”

“Holy shit! Ok, fine. It's Mandy.”

“Mandy! See? I love that, such a pretty name. Mandy what?”

“Mandy Tyra!”

“Ok, Mandy Tyra. Show me what you can do.”

She reached back and removed her top, letting her plump but perky breasts fall free. Henry felt his erection immediately stiffen as she leaned forward, rubbing them in his face. Her full nipples rubbed against his lips. He leaned forward trying to kiss one of them but she pulled back just in time. She looked down at him with her big green eyes and winked as she bent down and pressed her tits against his erection.

She rubbed them against his pants, his cock bulging against his fly as if it could break free at any second. Mandy stood and began twerking. Her bubbly ass bounced up and down against his face. She slid her ass down his body and onto his lap, grinding her hips into his boner once again.

“Hey, how about we take this more private?” he said wondering how much longer he could hold it.

“More private? Like what?”

“I know you guys have a private room here. Take me there.”

“And just what would you want to do there?”

“Oh, I got a few ideas.”

She smiled and took him by the hand. She walked him to an older man who was behind a desk along the wall. The man had on a suit and long gray hair pulled into a ponytail.

“This is Dean, the manager.”

“Hey!” Dean said. “Aren’t you…”

“Henry J. Thomas.”

“Right! Wow! I heard a lot about you. What can I help you with?”

“I’d like a special room for me and Mandy here. Just the two of us. No one disturb us at all. No matter what you hear.”

“Wow! Sounds kinky!” Mandy said.

“You know, I usually don’t allow this sort of thing. But for you, Mr. Thomas, I’ll make an exception. Right this way.”

Henry looked behind him and nodded to Jimmy who was standing near the dance floor. He came walking with them as Dean took them to a room in the back. It was small and dark with a twin bed in the corner and a leather loveseat.

“Oh, this looks cozy!” Mandy said as she crawled onto the bed. Henry looked to Jimmy.

“I’ll be awhile. Don’t let anyone in. No matter what.”

“Got it, boss,” Jimmy said and stepped outside.

Henry removed his jacket and began unbuttoning his shirt. Mandy got up on her knees and ran her hands up and down his chest. Henry pulled her close and buried his face in her tits and motor-boated her until she giggled. He sucked on her nipples playfully as Mandy moaned and sighed.

“Oh, that feels really good, mister! Mmmm.”

“You like that?”

“God, yes.”

“Then you’ll love this.”

He bit down as hard as he could.

“Fuck! Ow! That hurts! Stop it! Stop!” she screamed but he continued biting and pulling until her nipple tore away from her breast and into his mouth. He chewed the thick piece of flesh as blood filled his mouth. Earlier, this very thing had made him sick. This time, there was something kinky about it. Either way, he chewed the nipple for a few seconds before spitting it out. Mandy sat there crying with her hand over the bloody hole in her tit.

“Why did you do that?” she asked, crying.

“Because this is how I like to play.” He held out his hand and immediately saw all of Mandy’s pain. Her boyfriend beats the hell out of her on a regular basis. Dean, her boss has raped her more than a few times and he didn’t even want to look at her childhood, he got the idea. He twisted his hand side to side, but slowly. She fell to her knees, trying to look up at him.

“What is happening? What are you doing to me?”

“Just some of the games I like to play, sweetheart.”

He walked to her, pulled her hair back, and flung her onto the bed. He pulled her panties off while removing his pants. His cock was so hard he was amazed he hadn’t totally jizzed himself. He’d heard about a girl awhile back who could make guys cum without even touching them. Just by looking at them or something. Sounded too far-fetched for him, but would be cool if such a girl existed.

Once his pants were off, he thrust his cock into her pussy from behind. She was tight but dry. It didn’t matter to him. He pounded away while yanking her hair back as hard as he could. Her neck was cranked back at an odd angle as she stared up at the ceiling. Tears ran down her face as she loudly sobbed with each thrust. Finally, he couldn’t hold it anymore as his cock throbbed and trembled until he shot his load deep inside her. He thrust a few more times until he was done and threw her onto the bed. She lay there, whimpering, as he stood and dug through his jacket pockets and came out with a straight razor.

He flipped the razor open and smiled at Mandy as she slid back against the wall.

“What are you going to do to me?”

“Oh, just having a little fun, is all.”

He grabbed her by the foot and dragged her to him. She turned on her belly and tried to crawl away. He put his knee in the middle of her back as she let out a grunt. Henry flicked her ass cheek and watched it jiggle. He took the razor and began cutting along the edge of her left cheek. She screamed as blood gushed from the fleshy wound. Henry continued cutting around the cheek until it tore free. He held it in its hand. The underside was covered in yellow fatty tissue laced with dark red.

He tossed it aside, and she continued screaming as he began cutting away on the other cheek. Once he cut it free, there were two large craters where her ass used to be. He tossed the loose flesh onto the ground and flipped Mandy over. She was screaming and crying, trying to kick at him but was too weak to get any power behind her kicks. She kept screaming as he grabbed her lower jaw with his fingers, pulling it down as he used the razor to slice off her tongue. The lump of meat flopped onto the bed as blood oozed from her mouth, pouring down her chin. She continued screaming and trying to speak.

“Why? Why you do thith? Oh my goth. Why?”

“What? You aren’t having fun?”

He flicked the razor back and forth across her face, slashing red ribbons into her face. Mandy’s face looked like a dark red candy cane as crimson drops trickled down her face. He swung the blade across her stomach, cutting her open as she writhed on the bed. He reached in and grabbed her intestines and strung them out onto the bed. His hands slid along the greasy organs. Henry was impressed at how she remained alive and conscious through all this. He held his hand up and sensed the overwhelming pain she was feeling. It made his cock hard again. He stroked his cock with his gooey, sticky hand. It felt so good. He used the blade to severe her intestine. Brown and red sludge oozed from the opening as Mandy screamed. Once it finished draining, he slid his cock into the open end of the intestine and began stroking his cock with it.

He worked it faster and faster, feeling himself grow so hard with each stroke. He’d used a Fleshlight before, but this was ten times better. His cock twitched inside the organ until it erupted again, squirting his jizz all over the inside of her intestine. Mandy continued screaming as he squeezed, milking the last drop from his cock before pulling out. He stood and looked over Mandy’s blood and mutilated body. She was gasping in short breaths. Trying to scream but blood loss and shock were setting in.

“This was fun, sweetheart, but time’s up.” He leaned in and in one smooth motion slit her throat. There was a wheezing sound as air escaped. Mandy put her hands over her throat as thick red bubbles squirted through her fingers. She had no fight left in her, however. She gasped and wheezed for a few seconds as her body twitched and then she went still. Henry tossed the razor onto the bed and began getting dressed. He used the extra sheets from a cabinet on the wall to clean himself off as much as he could. Once he finished dressing he stepped out of the room where Jimmy was waiting.

“You got done just in time,” he said.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. Sable is here.”

“Good. And her little girlfriend?”

“Reggie called. They got her just fine.”

“Still alive?”

“Yeah. She put up a bit of a fight, but not much.”

“Perfect.”

Chapter 20

Sable stood by the main entrance as Henry appeared from a hallway toward the back of the club. He approached her and shook her hand.

“Sable! So glad you could make it. Why don’t you come join me? Let’s chat a bit.”

Sable didn’t say anything as she followed him to a booth in the corner. His goon Jimmy was seated next to him. Sable was tense, trying to think of anything she could do to get out of this nightmare and get her mom back safely.

“Ok. So I’m here. Can you let my mom go?”

“Now, I’m afraid it’s not quite that simple. I mean I know you’re saying now you’ll work for me. But what about a week from now? A month from now?”

“What the fuck? So you’re going to keep her indefinitely?”

“Oh of course not. I doubt she’ll even live that long. So I took out some additional insurance.”

“Like what?”

He took out his phone and held it up to her. This one showed a picture of Maria bound and gagged but dangling upside down with a man in a black mask standing next to her. This was more than Sable could take. She launched herself across the table, but Jimmy caught her before he could get to Henry.

“Not so fast,” Henry said as Jimmy held her arms tight and shoved her back into her seat.

“Next time you do that, bitch, I’ll break your arm,” Jimmy warned. She sat and glared at Henry, who shrugged.

“What can I say? He’s good. First things first. I want to actually see what you can do. I’ve heard all about it. But I need to see it in action.”

“What about my mom and Maria? How long will you keep them?”

“Until I’m confident you won’t try anything stupid again.”

He slid out of the booth.

“Come with me. This way. I got your first customer ready to go.”

“What are you talking about?”

Sable got a sick feeling in her stomach as he walked her down a dark hallway toward a room in the back. At first she feared it would be her mother and that he’d killed her. When he opened the door, she was almost relieved. Until she got a good look at the girl’s mutilated body.

“What in the fuck?” Sable asked. The poor girl’s eyes were frozen open staring at the ceiling. Blood was caked around her mouth and neck. Her stomach had been ripped open with her entrails strewn about. Even with Sable’s experience, she felt like she needed to throw up. She took a few deep breaths as Henry stepped in behind her.

“Yeah. I was just having a little fun and got carried away. You know how it goes. So do that thing you can do.”

“Why? What do you need to know from her? You fucking mutilated her.”

“I don’t give a shit. Wake her up and talk about the weather.”

Sable shook her head and approached the body. At least with Esteban, yeah he was a drug lord and crime boss but he killed out of his own twisted moral code. If it was a matter of survival or gang war or something he saw as a threat. Not that it made any of it ok, but at least he had some reason behind what he was doing. This guy, he just destroyed people for fun. She never saw someone torn up like this with Esteban. The mere thought of helping him made her sick to her stomach, but she thought of her mom and Maria.

She took a deep breath and picked up the girl’s intestines, the ones that were still attached and rubbed her hands around them. In a few seconds the girl’s eyes fluttered open.

“What’s going on? What happened? Who are you? Holy shit! Is that my intestines! What have you done to me? Help! Help!” the girl screamed.

“Shut the fuck up. Please. Calm down. I’m Sable. I’m a NecroWitch.”

“A what?”

“I’m sorry. You were killed earlier. I’m able to bring people back. At least temporarily.”

“I don’t understand. You’re saying I’m dead?”

“Yes.”

“Then why am I talking to you? Are you dead too?”

“No. Like I just told you. I brought you back for a minute. So I could talk to you.”

“About what?”

“What is your name?”

“Mandy.”

“Ok Mandy. Do you remember what happened to you?”

“Holy shit,” Henry said from behind her. “This chick is for real. She can really do it.”

“That guy over there. Oh my God! Don’t let him hurt me again!” Mandy began crying and grew frantic. This happened sometimes, depending on the person. Some woke up, realized they were dead, and totally lost their shit. When that happened, she just had to let them go. No point putting them through that much more pain. Especially this poor girl. She definitely wouldn’t be sending her to hell.

“Mandy, please calm down. I need you to focus. That man’s name is Henry. He can’t hurt you anymore.”

“Oh God! He cut me open. He raped me. He raped my insides,” she was sobbing wildly now. “Why would he do that? Why would anyone do that? I was nice to him. I’m a good…” Sable let go of the intestines as Mandy’s head dropped back onto the bed as she returned to her deceased state.

“What’s wrong?” Henry asked. “Why did you stop?”

“That girl has been through enough. I’m not going to torture her anymore. Can I see my mom now? Or Maria?”

“In time. Why don’t you go home and get some rest? It’s getting late and I got some plans for us tomorrow. Who knows? You may enjoy it.”

“I doubt that,” Sable said as she walked out of the club and back to her car. As she pulled out of the driveway she decided she wasn’t going home. She needed to pay someone a visit.

Chapter 21

Sable pounded on the door repeatedly until Eugene answered. He his hair was sticking up in wild directions and he was dressed in a wife beater and a pair of boxers.

“Sable? What’s going on? It’s almost 2 a.m.” he said.

She kicked the door open, shoving him back. He almost fell onto his coffee table as she stepped inside.

“You. Tell me every fucking thing you know about Henry and about NecroWitches.”

“What’s wrong? I told you what I know.”

She stepped forward and planted her foot squarely onto his nuts. He doubled over onto his knees as the air left his lungs.

“Why did you do that?”

“Henry has Maria, and my mom. He’s holding them hostage because of me. He just used them to make me do a reading on a dead stripper he’d mutilated. This is the fucking guy you want to work for? Your whole happy head-witch routine? That’s all bullshit?”

“He has Maria?” he said as he straightened up. “He never said he’d hurt her.”

“Yeah. He’s a fucking monster. He’s not going to ask your permission.”

“I care about her. I’m really not a bad person. I was just in a bad situation; you have to understand.”

“I don’t give a shit. Tell me what I need to know. Or I’ll just kill you and read it out of you.”

“Ok, that’s not necessary. Can I put some pants on?”

“Please do.”

He stood and walked into the bedroom. She looked around the living room and walked over to the bookshelf. There were various books on witchcraft and magic. She opened one up and flipped through it. The book he’d showed her about NecroWitches wasn’t on the shelf. She stepped away. It was taking him an awfully long time to put pants on. She walked toward the bedroom where the door was slightly ajar. She pushed it open gently.

“Hey Eugene! You get lost in here?”

As the door opened, Eugene was standing on the other side of the bed holding a gun. He was pointing it right at her.

“I’m sorry, Sable,” he said as he pulled the trigger twice. She dove out of the way as he fired another shot through the wall.

“What the fuck?”

“I know. I can’t help you. I’m sorry. I’m also sorry about Maria, I really am. You have to believe that. I’ve seen what Henry can do. If I help you, he’ll hurt me. If I don’t help you, you’ll kill me and hurt me. So I have to kill you and then kill myself. It’s the only way.”

She crawled into the kitchen behind the counter. He fired a shot that struck the front of the counter. Sable grabbed a butcher knife and hurled it at him before he got another shot off. Since knife throwing wasn’t an actual skill of hers, it flew through the air with no real velocity before he deflected it with his forearm. She scooted back in the kitchen as he took a few steps forward and fired more shots. They all ricocheted off the door jamb. Chunks of wood and drywall showered onto her as she put her head down.

“Don’t fight me, Sable! I have a few more shots left.”

As she tried to find something to fight with or somewhere to hide, she couldn’t help but wonder what kind of witch Eugene even was. She’d never seen him do anything remotely magical. Couldn’t he hurl fireballs at her or something? Another shot interrupted her thoughts, causing her to duck. Eugene circled the counter and moved toward her. She backed up against the wall as he pointed the gun just a foot from her forehead.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want Maria to get hurt. I wish I could help now, but I can’t.” She closed her eyes as he squeezed the trigger, but the gun had jammed. He pulled the slide back, trying to clear it. Sable lunged at his legs, knocking him backward. As he toppled back, he struck his head on the corner of the counter. He yelped as the gun fell from his hand when he landed on his side. Sable reached over him and grabbed the gun.

Without hesitating, she pulled the slide back and ejected the jammed shell casing. As it snapped forward, a new round slid into the chamber. Eugene tried to slap it out of her hand but she moved just in time and pointed the gun at his chest.

“Sable! Wait…” he yelled but she fired the weapon’s last round into his chest. His body jerked as a small red fountain appeared in his chest before he went still. She tossed the gun aside and looked around the countertop and realized she’d thrown the butcher knife. She walked across the other room and found the knife on the floor. She went back to Eugene’s body and cut his shirt off and thrust the butcher knife into his stomach. She sliced along his abdomen and pulled the incision open.

Reaching in, she yanked his intestines out, placed both her hands on them and began rubbing until Eugene’s eyes opened.

“What’s going…oh no. Oh God. Oh God no,” he said.

“Oh yes, asshole.”

“Please just let me rest. I was afraid you’d do this. Please. I can’t help you.”

“Henry can’t hurt you now, but I sure as fuck can. Tell me what I need to know. What do you know about me? About what I can do? Is this it?”

“Well. No. I didn’t tell you everything.”

“Now would be a good time.”

“It’s not that simple. Ow!”

She manipulated his guts, causing him to cry out.

“Ok! Ok! Jesus! What do you want to know?”

“What is Henry? What else can he do and how do I stop him?”

“I don’t know what he’s called. I’ve honestly never heard of what he can do before. It’s completely terrifying. Hasn’t he done it on you?”

Sable stopped and thought back to that moment in her apartment after her massage, when he waved his hand around weirdly and ran out. That’s why he’d kidnapped her mom and Maria. His power wouldn’t work on her. No wonder he’d freaked out. Sable had no idea why it wouldn’t work on her.

“No. He tried once. It didn’t work. I must be immune.”

“That is amazing.”

“Yeah. Really spectacular. What about me? Is this all I can do? Talk to dead people like this? Or is there something more?”

“Yes. According to my book, the last living NecroWitch was able to raise the dead. Like actually make them get up and walk. They listened to her.”

“Are you fucking serious?” She twisted his intestine causing him to scream.

“Yes! Yes! I’m not kidding! At least it’s what the book says!”

“How did she do it?”

“I don’t know. It didn’t say.”

“Were they like zombies? I don’t want to start the fucking zombie apocalypse.”

“I don’t know. It just said the dead obeyed her. That’s all I know.”

“That’s not fucking helpful.”

“I’m sorry. Please don’t hurt me anymore. Let me rest. Please?”

“You can rest. In hell.” She took the knife and sliced through his intestine as Eugene went still. His eyes frozen open in terror. She stood and looked at the blood all over herself. Walking into the bathroom, she removed her clothes and took a shower. Once she was clean, she wrapped herself in a towel and went into the bedroom. She doubted Eugene would have any clothes she could wear, but she wasn’t about to put her bloody clothes back on.

In a few hours she had to see Henry again. God knew what kind of mutilated corpse he’d have her read next. She didn’t want to know. She wanted to figure out the extent of her abilities. Now that she knew his power didn’t work on her, she had some advantage. If she could just kill him, then she could use his body to find her mom and Maria.

She pulled on one of Henry’s t-shirts and a pair of sweats. It was all too big, but enough to drive home in. Once she got home she went to her closet to find something more suitable. As she dug through her clothing, she wondered what she could do to use all of her abilities. She’d discovered this one by accident. Maybe the other would just come to her. Maybe not. Even if she could raise the dead, she wasn’t sure what she’d have them do or what they could do. Could she bring her mom back once the cancer took her? Or would it be like Pet Sematary and she’d be a homicidal maniac?

Whatever would happen, she found her black body suit and pulled it on. It was one of her more comfortable outfits and allowed her to move freely. Hanging behind it was a black hooded cape. She hadn’t worn it in ages. She wasn’t even sure why she’d bought it to begin with. Looking in the mirror, she fastened the cape and pulled the hood up. She’d left the zipper on the body suit unzipped to just below her breasts, showing off ample cleavage. If she was going to be a NecroWitch, she may as well look the part; even if she had no idea what she was doing.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she decided she looked hot as fuck. At least if Henry killed her, she’d look good in the process. Seeing her reflection gave her an idea. Besides being a NecroWitch, she was a dominatrix, and a damn good one. She had other abilities besides her magic. It was time she put that to use. While Henry absolutely disgusted her, she’d do whatever it took to save those she loved. She smirked at her reflection and winked at herself before turning away.

Chapter 22

Henry returned to the mansion and stopped by the room to check on Kellen List. When he opened the door, Kellen was in the corner, crying and shaking. Henry almost threw up at the smell. Kellen already had several times. There was dried vomit all along the floor. The two mutilated corpses of Kellen’s wife and son hung from the hooks. Henry put a handkerchief over his mouth as he tried to mask the smell.

“Hey Kellen, how you holding up?” Henry asked.

Kellen just sat there blubbering to himself.

“Oh come on. Hello?”

Henry bent down and looked at Kellen, but he was staring off into space.

“Kellen? Hey bud. You still in there?”

Still no answer. Henry held up his hand and moved it to the left and right. Oddly he saw nothing. No pain, no suffering. Everything was just blank. The poor guy had actually lost his mind. That’s the only thing Henry could figure. He turned and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him, leaving Kellen be with his dead wife and son.

He headed up to his room, where the girl he’d asked for was waiting for him. This one was a curvy redhead. She was lying in bed, naked, flipping through a magazine, then looking up at him when he stepped inside.

“Well, hello there,” she said.

“And who might you be?”

“I’m Kim. Kim Hill. They told me you wanted to have some fun.”

“Oh, I’m always up for fun.”

“Great, hun.” She sat up, revealing her full, round breasts with nipples so hard they could cut glass. She leaned back and spread her legs. Henry was glad to see the carpet did indeed match the drapes. “So what did you have in mind?”

“Well, let me see. I kind of like it rough, if you know what I mean,” Henry said.

“Oh? I love being spanked.”

“I’d love to spank you. Come on over here. Let me see that ass.”

Kim crawled to the edge of the bed, turned around and stuck her thick, round ass into the air. Henry ran his hand across it, squeezing it. He loved a nice full ass and hers was lovely. He slid his fingers in between her legs and teased her pussy. He felt her juices running down his fingertips as she moaned.

“Mmm, babe. That sure feels good.”

“Yes it does.”

“I thought you were going to spank me.”

He reached into his jacket and flipped out his pocket knife.

“You’re right. Spanking is coming.”

He grabbed a handful of her red hair and pulled her head back. She moaned as he thrust the knife into her asshole. She screamed and bucked as he pulled her hair while slicing downward. She continued to struggle as he pushed her forward thrusting the knife in and out of her asshole, slicing through the flesh and tissue as if he were performing an episiotomy from hell. Soon he cut through until her asshole and pussy were one large, gaping hole. She cried out as blood flowed from the opening.

Still holding the knife, he shoved his arm inside stabbing her insides repeatedly while she screamed and howled. Henry didn’t even know what he was stabbing, he just kept doing so until his arm got tired. Once he was done he pulled his red, sticky arm out and straddled her back.

“Oh my God! Oh my God! No! Please! No!” she screamed.

He pulled her hair back further and held the knife under her nose just at the septum and began slicing. He cut away until her nose was hanging by a single strand of flesh. Blood bubbled out her nose as she made a sick gurgling sound. He grabbed a water bottle off the nightstand and held it up over her face and poured the water into the new opening in her face. She gagged and thrashed about as he held her down while pulling her head back.

Her reaction was fascinating for him to watch. He wondered if it was possible for a person to drown this way. After a minute of struggling, Kim’s eyes went wide as her body went limp. He climbed off her and removed his bloody shirt. After a quick shower, he changed clothes as Jimmy came up and knocked on the door. Henry let him in, and Jimmy froze at the sight of the dead girl on his bed.

“She ok?” he asked.

“Does she fucking look ok? No. She’s dead as hell. Have someone clean this mess up. I’ll sleep in one of the other rooms tonight.”

“Jesus, Mr. Thomas. This is the second girl tonight.”

“What? Do I have a limit?”

“No. Just saying. You got a lot of pent up rage. I got some good weed if you need to like chill for a bit.”

Henry looked at him as if he had three heads. Why would he want to chill? He ran this city. No one on either side of the law would even think of crossing him. The only problem was, some of the Mexican bosses weren’t too happy with his recent promotion to upper management. He’d gotten word they were planning to visit in the next few days. This was one reason he needed Sable. He could kill them, and she could find out anything and everything they knew. She’d learn how they ran their operations, men loyal to them, and most of all, where they kept their money.

That is, if she came around. He was sure she would. She had no choice with him having her mom and her hot little friend. Not as hot as Sable. Sable had a serious rack on her. Too bad his powers didn’t work on her. The things he’d make her do. He just hoped Sable didn’t figure out his powers didn’t work on her. Then again, he’d just torture Maria and make Sable watch. He glanced out the bedroom window, saw the sun was rising, and realized he hadn’t slept a wink. For some reason, he wasn’t even tired. After what he’d done to Mandy earlier that night, and then Kim, he felt good. He felt alive! Who had time to sleep? He sure didn’t. Instead, he headed outside and climbed into his Bentley. Time to go for a drive and clear the mind.

Chapter 23

Sable flipped her hood down when there was a knock at her door. Fuck. At first she thought it was Henry, but why would he be coming by here again? She walked to the door and looked through the peephole. It was a younger woman with long dark hair. She looked familiar but Sable couldn’t place her. Opening the door just enough to not have to undo the chain she stuck her head in the opening.

“Can I help you?”

“Sable?”

“Maybe? Who are you?”

“I’m Ember. I kind of met you at our one coven meeting.”

“Ok. I thought you looked familiar.”

“Yeah. I have been wanting to talk to you since. I tried to call Maria, but her phone is off. Her phone is never off so I got worried. Then I went to see Eugene and saw you leaving there. So I followed you.”

“Yeah, that’s not creepy at all.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t go inside Eugene’s place did you?”

“No. Why?”

“Oh. Good. No reason. So what do you want?”

“Can I come in?” Ember asked. Sable didn’t respond right away. “I’m not going to hurt you. Not that I could anyway. I thought you were pretty bad ass. I’m new to this whole witch thing. I just had some questions about being a NecroWitch. I’d studied them some for a while. I want to be one but I have no idea how.”

“You studied them? How?”

“Some of Eugene’s books and other stuff I found online.”

Sable undid the chain and let Ember inside. Ember looked her up and down as she walked in.

“Why are you dressed like that? You about to cast a spell or something?”

“Long story. Come in.” She closed the door and sat on the couch. “So tell me what you know. About NecroWitches. Eugene only told me a little and said I could actually raise the dead. Or that some can. How do I do this?”

“I was hoping you could tell me how to be a NecroWitch? I mean, yeah, I’m a witch, but a new one. We sit and chant shit and do spells that may or may not be working. I want to do some real witch shit. That thing you do? That is the shit! For real! How do you do it? Like did you learn it?”

“No. I told you guys. I discovered it by accident that one day. It’s like I was born with it. I don’t even know if just anyone can do it. It’s not like I went to NecroWitch school or something. This isn’t Harry Potter.”

“Well shit.”

“So what did you learn? You said you read all about it.”

“Yeah. There was the one Eugene told you about, but there was another. She lived in Germany in the twenties. Apparently only actually did it a few times.”

“Ok.”

“But get this: the lady, her name was Esmerelda Fischer. She had been a school teacher, but she retired young. According to the story she had the kids in the play yard and there was a pond nearby. A few of the boys were throwing a ball around and one tried to leap for it and lost his footing, falling into the pond. I guess he hit his head or something because he didn’t get up. So Esmerelda ran over to pull him out and she did, but he wasn’t breathing. I guess they didn’t do CPR back then but whatever happened by the time she got him out, he was dead.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah. He was like twelve years old. So according to the other kids, she couldn’t revive him and the other kids started freaking out. Esmerelda stays calm the whole time and put her hands on the kid, like around his neck. She didn’t have to touch his guts or anything but she grabbed his throat like she was choking him I guess. She closed her eyes and a minute later the kid woke up.”

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah, I know. I guess people didn’t believe it at first, but all the other students, ‘til their dying days, retold that story. They were all freaked out, though. She retired a few weeks later and lived alone the rest of her life.”

“Sounds about right.”

“Yeah. No one wanted anything to do with her after that.”

“What happened to the boy?”

“Best I could find out was he got sick and died a few months later. Some people blamed her. But they don’t know what it was. It was like he just began to deteriorate, then died.”

“You mean like a zombie?”

“I guess so. I’m not sure. No one is. I kind of think she was using her magic to keep him alive. Once she went into hiding and got sad and lonely, the spell wore off, or she like released him and he just died.”

“Weird. That doesn’t help me. I need to know how to bring back the dead.”

“Why?”

Sable rubbed her hands together as she looked at the ground.

“This guy, he’s a bad guy. A really, really bad guy. He’s got Maria and my mom. If I don’t work for him he’s going to kill them, if he hasn’t already. I don’t know if I can save them. So I need to know how to bring them back if he does kill them. My mom is already dying of cancer. If I can bring her back…I don’t know. I just need to know if I can do it. How to do it.”

“Why don’t you practice?”

“On what? I don’t have a lot of dead bodies lying around.”

“True.”

“I may just have to wing it. I discovered my other power by accident. I just... This is driving me crazy.”

“Maybe I can help.”

“How? What can you do?”

“I dunno. Moral support?”

“How old are you?”

“Nineteen.”

Sable suspected she was lying. Under the black hair hanging in her face, was a total fresh-faced kid. At first glance she looked maybe sixteen. Not to mention the whole witch thing. She was trying way too hard. Jet black hair, black clothes and a crappy tattoo of a pentagram on her wrist that looked like it was done in jail.

“Jesus. You’re a child. I don’t even know what the fuck I’m doing. I have to go back in a little while and either think of a way to kill this asshole to save my family, or work for him indefinitely and hope he doesn’t hurt them.”

They sat there thinking when Sable’s phone went off. She picked it up to see it was Henry calling. She rolled her eyes as she answered.

“Hey princess!”

“I’m not your fucking princess.”

“Well, fine. You ready to start your first day at your new job?”

“Not until I can see my mom and Maria. I want to actually see them, be in the room with them and make sure they are ok. Then I’ll do whatever you want.”

There was a long pause.

“Well?”

“Ok fine. Be here in an hour and I’ll arrange it.”

She hung up and looked at Ember.

“Ok. I have to get going,” Sable said.

“What should I do?”

“Go home. For real. This guy is not one to be fucked with.”

“Ok fine.”

“Practice turning people into frogs or something.”

“Haha. You’re not funny.”

“I know.” Sable adjusted her hood, grabbed her keys, and headed to the car. Ember walked along with her, and Sable watched her get in her car and drive away. As she climbed into her car, she wondered if there was a special broom she could get to just fly around on. Shaking off the stupid thought, she started the car and headed back to Henry’s place. One way or another, she was going to see her mom.

Chapter 24

A short time later, Sable arrived at Henry’s mansion. The sun was coming up as she pulled into the long drive. She felt under her cloak along her leg. Using some tubing, duct tape and hot glue, she’d fashioned a sheath into the right leg of her body suit. The butcher knife from her kitchen fit it perfectly. It wasn’t the ideal weapon but all she had in case things went sideways. She parked the car and climbed out, heading to the entrance. Once at the door, she rang the doorbell. Some guy she’d never seen before answered.

“You must be Sable.”

“No shit.”

“Mr. Thomas is upstairs. He’ll be right down.”

“I want to see my mom. And Maria.”

“In time. Please come in. Have a seat.”

The man stepped to the side as she walked into the large home. The sitting room was very quaint with expensive furniture like you’d see in an old museum. She sat down and crossed her legs. Moments later Jimmy appeared.

“Hey Sable. Henry asked me to bring you to his office.”

“I want to see my mother. And my friend. I’m not going anywhere or doing shit until I see them.”

“Look. I just work here ok? He said you can see them, he’ll take you to them.”

“Fuck that. I’m sick of his games and yours.”

Beads of sweat formed on Jimmy’s forehead as he looked around before lowering his voice.

“Look. Have you seen what he can do? I have. It’s scary as fuck. If I disobey him, he’ll do it to me and that is terrifying. He’ll do it to you, too.”

“No he won’t. His shit doesn’t work on me.”

“For real?”

“Yes. For real.”

“Shit. How you do it? It works on me.”

“That must suck for you. Now, my family.”

“Look. I told you…”

“Have you seen what I can do?” she asked, staring at him. He was much taller than her, but she knew she had the upper hand here. He was visibly shaken at her resistance and knowing she was immune to Henry.

“Uhh…no.”

“You’re about to find out if you don’t do what I want.”

“Look. You don’t know what you are asking.”

Sable looked around to make sure no one else was around. She almost hesitated, being about to kill a man in cold blood. Eugene had been self-defense. Technically this was to save lives. At least that is what she told herself. With one quick motion she pulled out the knife and swiped it across his throat, severing his windpipe. He put his hand to his neck as the air escaped with a wheezing sound. Sable took a step back and watched him tumble over the couch.

She looked around again to make sure it was clear. Once she was sure, she ripped open his shirt and sliced his stomach wide open. In a matter of minutes she was reading his insides. Jimmy’s eyes snapped open as he looked around.

“Oh my God! You killed me! You killed me!”

Sable rolled her eyes. They had the exact same reaction every single time. It was highly annoying.

“No shit. Now shut up or I can make this fucking hurt like hell.”

“Please! Can you bring me back? Bring me back for good? I’m not ready to die.”

“Maybe. Where are they? You’re dead now. He can’t hurt you, but I can.”

“They’re in the basement. He’s got several rooms down there. Your mom is in the far room in the corner. Maria is in the one across from it.”

“How do I get there?”

“There’s an elevator just down the hall. Please bring me back?”

She wanted to send his dumb ass to hell also but part of her felt like he was as much a victim as anyone. Instead she just let go as went limp once again. She stood and ran down the hall to the elevator. Once she reached the basement, she headed toward the far corner. The basement was dark, but dimly lit by a handful of hanging lightbulbs. She found the room and pushed on the door. Taking a deep breath she pushed it open. There in a bed was her mother. Her face was blue and her eyes frozen in a horrible gaze staring into nothingness.

Sable closed the door as she went to her knees.

“Mom! No!” she cried as she put her face in her hands. She was too late. Her mom only had days to live and Sable missed it. Her mom was taken because of her, and was probably dead sooner than she needed to be. A thought came to her mind but she pushed it back. After she gathered herself, the thought came to her again.

I can’t do that to her.

But I have to.

Slowly she walked over to her mom’s body and looked her up and down. She put her hand on her mom’s face as tears ran down her own cheeks. She closed her mom’s eyes as she stuck the knife into her stomach, but continuing to look at her face. Her skin broke open easily from having been dead for days. She reached in and touched her mom’s insides as her mom’s eyes slowly opened. Her mom’s reaction was different than the others.

“Sable. Honey,” she said.

“Mom! I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you. This is all my fault.”

“No it isn’t dear. I was dying. I’m no longer in pain. Thank you for waking me long enough to see you.”

“This feels wrong. Like I’m violating you, but I had to say goodbye.”

“I know, Sable. I knew you would. That’s why I wasn’t afraid.”

“You knew?”

“Yes. I am also a NecroWitch. Only I almost never used my gift. I discovered it when I was a teenager. I could only bring them back for a minute or two though. Yours is much more powerful. When I was beyond, many of the dead were asking to speak to you.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. They call you Mother of the Dead. You are their voice. When someone is murdered, they have no voice. Except with you, now they do.”

“How? What do I do?”

“You’ll know. When the time is right. You’ll know. I have to go now, honey. Please let me rest. I love you.”

“I don’t want to let you go.”

“I know. But you must.”

“I love you, mom,” Sable said as she leaned down, kissed her on the cheek and slowly let go. Her mom drifted back into the beyond as her eyes slowly closed. Sable held her hand and pressed her face against her mom’s shoulder when the door swung open. She jumped up to see Henry standing in the doorway with a handful of his men behind him.

“Bravo! That was excellent!” he said.

She glared at him, her rage about to hit a boiling point.

“You saw that?”

“Saw it? I saw everything. Hell, I orchestrated it. You’ll make a great employee.”

Chapter 25

Sable felt the blood rushing to her face. It took every ounce of strength for her to not charge him and shove the knife in his face. No doubt his men had guns and could blow her away before she could get close.

“Now, before you get too angry, you should know Maria is quite alive. Slightly uncomfortable, but alive.”

Sable took a step toward Henry.

“I’m going to kill you,” she said.

“Oh, I don’t think you will.”

“Your magic trick doesn’t work on me. That’s why you had to kidnap people I care about.”

“Wow, you’re good. Look. I’m prepared to pay you quite well. And you’re right. My gift doesn’t work on you. But bullets will. And my powers work just fine on Maria. So you can make a run at me and I can kill you both.”

Sable.

Something whispered to her. She looked around but there was no one. Great. This wasn’t the time to have a psychotic break.

Sable. It’s Jimmy. Let me help you.

“What? How?”

You have to give the command.

“What is the command?”

Henry looked around and laughed.

“Who the fuck are you talking to?”

Moments later, a single word appeared in her mind. She wasn’t sure where it came from. She just said it.

“Conscendo,” she said. What she didn’t know was that it was Latin for “arise.” She’d learn it soon enough.

“What the fuck are you talking about? Come on. Enough fun and games.”

Sable stood waiting but nothing happened. Fuck. So much for that.

“Are you coming? Or should I just lock you in here with your dead mom? I’ve been known to lock people up with their dead family members, you know.”

Sable shook her head. That was it. She dropped the knife and hung her head. Whatever it is she thought she could do was a bust. Henry was going to win and Sable’s life was about to descend into hell. Until one of Henry’s men screamed. Sable’s head shot up as Henry turned. There was Jimmy with his throat still slashed and his guts hanging out; with his fist thrust into one of the men’s chest. He ripped the man’s heart out and grabbed the next one by the throat.

“Jesus H. Fuck!” Henry screamed running back into the room toward Sable as the other two men opened fire on Jimmy. The bullets tore through his flesh and skull but he didn’t budge. Once the second man fell, Sable yelled again.

“Conscendo!”

The two recently dead men stood and started toward them. Henry tried to grab Sable but she elbowed him in the ribs and moved out of the way. She wasn’t sure why her mom hadn’t woken up, but was relieved she hadn’t. The last thing she needed to see was her mom as a lumbering zombie. But these guys were far from zombies. Sure, they were dead and moving around, but they moved quickly and with precision. The two recently dead men made quick work of the rest of Henry’s men.

“Conscendo!” Sable called out as the rest of them stood. They gathered around Sable as she walked toward Henry. Henry backed up and began waving his hands frantically. Sable cracked a smile watching as sweat poured down his face.

“What’s wrong, Henry? No more tricks up your sleeve?”

“What have you done? What are you doing? How did you do that?”

“I’m the NecroWitch, and these are my children. I think I’ll call them NecroWalkers.”

The NecroWalkers closed in around Henry as she stood and watched. He screamed as they began punching, stabbing and tearing at him. They weren’t trying to eat his flesh or anything. They were doing what she commanded.

“Don’t kill him!” she said. “There’s a big freezer at the end of the hallway. Put him in there.”

They took him by the arms and started dragging him out. His face was bloody and eyes were swollen but he still managed to look at her as they passed by.

“You crazy bitch! You know who you are fucking with?”

“I do, as a matter of fact. Obviously, you didn’t.”

She watched as they dragged him to the freezer and stuffed him inside, closing the lid and latching it shut. Henry could be heard pounding and screaming from the inside. The NecroWalkers came back to Sable and looked at her. She looked at them, not sure what to say or do next. They all looked at each other, before the NecroWalkers all knelt down before her. Jimmy was in front of the group as he bowed.

“We pledge ourselves to you in this life and the next, our dear mother.”

Chapter 26

Sable nodded to the NecroWalkers.

“Please. Stand,” she said. “We need to find Maria.”

“She’s safe,” Jimmy said. “She’s in here.”

He walked across the hall and ripped the padlock off the door with his bare hands. Sable realized how she’d played right into Henry’s hands. Her mom’s room wasn’t locked for a reason. She was glad she’d figured her powers out. When he pushed the door open, Maria was sitting in the corner. She looked pale and scared, but otherwise unharmed.

“Sable!” she said as she stood until she saw the NecroWalkers. “What the fuck?”

“It’s ok. They’re with me.”

Gunshots rang out from upstairs. Sable ran to the elevator, and Maria followed. When they got up to the ground floor, there were several dead men lying in the stairwell and in the hall.

“Jesus Christ,” Maria said. There were more shots from their left as the women ducked behind a large sofa. The shots stopped as a girl’s voice called out.

“All clear!”

Sable peaked out to see Ember walking down the hall carrying a sawed-off shotgun. She was wearing black fatigues and a black tank top.

“Ember? What the fuck are you doing?”

“I told you I could help.”

“Jesus.”

“Ember?” Maria said looking at them both. “How do you two know each other?”

“She wants to be like me,” Sable said. “She helped me figure out what I can do.” Sable looked at Ember. “Did you know about my mom? That she was also a NecroWitch?”

“For real? No. That’s crazy. Where is she?” Immediately her face went white when she asked.

“Oh no. I’m so sorry.”

“Where did you learn to shoot like that?”

“My uncle used to take me wild hog hunting. I’m a better shot than I am a witch.”

*                                       *                                           *

Six months later, Sable sat in the living room of the large mansion. She’d moved in once Henry was gone. There had been a few of his men left after Ember’s massacre, but they’d all surrendered without a fight. Most of them had been working for Henry out of pure fear, so she let them go. A few stayed around to help out around the house. She’d also set the NecroWalkers free. Set them free, as in let them go back to sleep. The remaining men buried them in the large yard in back along with the rest of the dead bodies. Before they went, Jimmy had explained she could direct her ‘Conscendo’ command at whichever deceased she wanted to, which was why her mom hadn’t woken up.

She buried her mom, herself, in a special grave next to the flower garden. Much to her surprise, when she went to visit the grave, her mom would actually speak to her. Now they talked daily. Same with the rest of the dead. Gradually she heard more and more of them calling out to her. Not just the NecroWalkers, but anyone deceased. Sometimes it got overwhelming, but she was learning to tune it out when she needed.

It had been a few days since she’d engaged in her new hobby. So she stood and headed back to the basement. Stepping off the elevator, she walked to the deep freeze, undid the latch, and flipped it open. Henry’s frozen body lay there, staring up at the sky. She slid her hand into the opening she’d previously cut into his stomach as he jumped awake.

“Oh God, no!” he cried out. “Not again! You fucking cunt! Can’t you just let me rest?”

“Sorry, Henry. I’m your own personal hell. Time to play.”

Chapter 27

Boris sat in his crypt watching the events with the NecroWitch unfold. He laughed as she finally figured out how to raise the dead and made quick work of the pathetic human. Stupid Henry. Had no idea what he was into. It was Boris who’d given him that power. He’d been watching Sable for a long time. He knew wanted to see if she’d go into hiding like her mother. He remembered the first time her mom had used her power. It was on a man who had been shot in her neighborhood in a drive-by.

He’d paid her a little visit and after a short demonstration, she never so much as thought of using her gift again. Now here was her daughter, running all over the city talking to dead people and now, raising them up. He’d hoped Henry would scare her enough to either send her into hiding or at least keep her contained. All he did was encourage her to become stronger. She was definitely not like her mother. Stronger in power and her will.

No way could Boris allow that to happen. There was a natural order of things. Alive was alive and dead was dead. Bringing back the dead was unnatural. Sable and all of her kind were abominations. She’d wondered why there were so few NecroWitches. Boris was the reason. For centuries, he’d kept an eye out. Sometimes, one slipped through. Most he managed to kill at birth, or at least scare them shitless. Something about this one was different. Not only did he need to stop her, but had to somehow undo all of her shit. Now she just walked around conversing with the dead.

He could see the activity all around her. Spirits even she couldn’t see floating around. Mother of the dead, his ass. More like psycho step-mother. Boris one was the one who ruled the underworld. All those poor souls she thought she was sending to hell, she was sending to him. He didn’t want those bastards. Best he could do was lock them away. He supposed it was a hell of sorts. Boris had few minions of his own. Some of the dead sent to him, he commanded. If they proved themselves, he let them join his army. He’d never needed them before, but that time was coming.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette. He placed it between his lips as a blue flame shot out from his fingertip lighting it. War was coming all right. He was the NecroReaper. If she was the Mother of the Dead, he was the long lost father coming to take back what was rightfully his. Soon. Very soon.

The End

Stay tuned for

NecroWitch 2: Rise of the Reaper

Here is a sneak peek of

Tim Miller’s next book

Suicide Hotline

1.

Lenny Rogers

Goshen, Indiana

The ride in the SUV was taking forever. Lenny looked out the window asking himself: Am I really doing this? Is this really happening? Since flunking out of college, his life had turned to shit. At twenty years old, his parents kicked him out of the house. He never had a girlfriend so at least he didn’t get dumped. But then again, he never had a girlfriend.

Since he was a teenager he was fascinated by Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, the two Columbine shooters. He read every book about them and had seen every documentary. Problem was, he didn’t know the first thing about guns, and when it came down to it was a bit chicken shit. Sad thing was, he knew it. Everyone knew it.

A friend of his let him shoot a gun once. It was a Sig-Sauer .40 caliber handgun. The thing kicked so hard he dropped it once. He nearly injured his wrist by the time he was finished shooting a few rounds. Lenny’s skinny arms weren’t strong enough to handle the recoil. His buddy took it away from him and never let him touch it since.

He looked around the other seats of the SUV. There were three men in masks and fatigues staring off at nothing. Each of them was carrying AR-15’s. He didn’t know any of their names. There was no need. He’d contacted the hotline just weeks before. They already had this target in mind. His old middle school.

“Why not the high school?” he asked.

They told him the high school had on duty police working during the day. The middle school had a sign on the door that say

ALL VISTORS MUST SIGN IN THE OFFICE

That was the extent of their security.

“You ok sport?” the man across from him asked. “You’re not going to get sick are you? Don’t want you throwing up in our car.”

“I’m fine. I think.”

“You scared?”

“A little,” he lied. He was terrified. It was too late to turn back now. This would be his last ride anywhere. In less than an hour, his name would be national headlines. He’d go down in history as the Windbigler Middle School shooter. He imagined all the news trucks from CNN and Fox News outside his house, talking to his parents. He cracked a smile thinking of all the people on TV arguing about gun control and the NRA. All because of him.

“Don’t worry boss. We’ll make ya famous!” Just as the guy spoke the SUV pulled to a halt just in front of the school.

“This is it! Here we go! Let it rip!” the man yelled as the doors swung open and they piled out. Lenny had a gun too but it wasn’t loaded. He ran in behind them just like he’d been instructed. As he followed the men inside, he watched as a secretary stepped out of the office and one of the mercenaries opened fire. The bullet struck her in the face as her head exploded, splattering the walls with blood and brain matter.

One operator went into the office as the other two split up down the hallways. Lenny heard gunshots come from the office as children screamed from down the hallway. He ran down the hall to see kids running away as the men shot some in the back. One male teacher grabbed a gunman around the neck but he flipped the teacher effortlessly and fired a single shot into his forehead.

There was blood and screams everywhere. A tear ran down Lenny’s face as he realized just what he’d done. It was one thing to see it on TV or to shoot up people in a video game. It was something else entirely to watch twelve and thirteen-year-old kids get their heads blown off right in front of you.

He walked by one classroom that appeared empty and stuck his head inside. The operator walked up and down the row of large wooden lockers and tapped on one of them. He looked over at Lenny and gave a thumbs up before opening fire into the wood. Screams sounded as the doors splintered open while small bodies toppled free. One young woman fell dead at his feet as a police siren sounded in the distance. Lenny looked at his phone to see only two minutes had passed since they arrived at the school. These mercenaries worked fast, but the cops were quick too.

“You hear that sport? That’s your queue,” he said.

“Queue for what?” Lenny asked as the man walked up to him and placed the hot muzzle of the AR-15 under Lenny’s chin.

“Time’s up,” he said right before he pulled the trigger.

About the Author

Tim began writing at a very young age. Even in grade school he'd sit around with his notebook, writing stories for himself and his friends.

As an adult, Tim's writings have evolved into darker realms. He released his first horror novel, "The Hand of God" in 2011. Since then his books have become progressively more violent and gory. With the release of "Family Night" in 2013, Tim had moved into the world of extreme horror where he continues to push the boundaries of human suffering.

Tim is now an international best seller as well. His book, "Hell, Texas" has recently ranked high on Amazon sales charts since its release in Germany under German publisher, Festa-Verlag.

Tim is very active on social media and loves interacting with his readers. You can find him at his website at http://timmiller.org

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Also by Tim Miller

Hell, Texas

Return to Hell Texas

Psychoville

Spankenstein

Dollhouse

Curse of the Gut Ripper

Family Night

My Brother’s Keeper

Fertile Fields