The Tickle Demon

[Journia]

This is a new story that I'm actually going to finish, called, The Tickle Demon.
It starts off a bit slow, and durrh but it starts to pick up quite eloquently from chapter two on. So, read read my friends and comment!

Triple Murder in Bohr Mansion!
“Dear God in Heaven,” the officer said as he looked at the bodies on the floor. They were scattered about, limbs hacked off, blood soaking into the carpet. The bodies were mainly of women, but there was a man's body in there too. He was shot in the head, while everyone else was cut, scraped, and bloodied in other ways. It seemed at first that he was the killer. That he had committed the homicides, and then committed suicide in some twisted manner of feeling that he could not be captured by mortal forces of justice. Yet he had a crucifix on his neck. Did he believe in God? Did he believe that he would flee from the divine forces of justice that he knew would await him in the afterlife? It was a twisted mystery. And then an interesting facet was revealed from the crime scene.

There was no gun, no knives, and yet every woman was cut to pieces, and that one man was shot in the head.

It would have been officially considered a murder suicide, were it not for that piece of evidence, or lack thereof. However, it was unofficially labelled such because of the causes of death. A seemingly self inflicted gunshot to the head, and butchering of women.

It was Hell on gender relations in the town. Women from the university sorority couldn't trust any male, even their boyfriends or their fathers. And the men had to deal with the scornful,suspicious looks from women who passed by them. Looks of disdain, looks that hissed, “You piece of shit.” with every blink of the eye.

There were no more murders like that, though there were deaths, but none so mysterious.

“And that's why we're here.” Sidney said, “We're going to find out what happened in this old mansion.” The slender golden haired woman said as she passed out the reports she had typed up for each member of the six person team. She was almost six feet tall, her back had a graceful arch and she exuded every bit of confidence when she walked. Head held high and eyes set forward. She wore a black sweater, a pair of black jeans and a pair of heavy duty boots. Her wool hat topped her head and was a crown for her hair to fall from.

“It's a wonder this murder didn't work on race relations.” Debbi, the other golden haired member of the team said with some amusement. Her skin was heavily tanned, almost a ruddy complexion, and her light colored hair didn't go so well with her complexion.

“It did actually.” Sidney replied as she sat down in the armchair. The group was in the living room of the Harte Family Mansion. The dark room was illuminated by the harsh light of the fireplace, and Sidney had positioned her chair, as she often did with other items during a meeting, to exploit her dominance in the group. Her chair was in the dead center of the room, directly in front of the roaring fire, and directly before the other five seats were positioned. If it wasn't for her pale complexion, no one would be able to see Sidney. As it stood, no one could discern her exact expression, but all were afforded a dimly illuminated image of their team leader as she sat, cross legged on the chair. Fire glowing behind her as she lay in the shadow, a devil in the fire.

“So,” Jacob, interjected, “This guy...he was black?”
“Yes.” Sidney replied, tersely. “He was black, and the victims were mainly white, with respect to one Asian woman which is why it worked on race relations as well.”
“Interesting,” Jacob said as he looked at the paper, his copper colored hands clamped on the margins, flanking the paragraphs that neatly fell from the top to the bottom of the page. He sat in his silence.

“Now,” Sidney said with a whip-like tone, “We're here to investigate to see who actually caused this murder. Ah, yes Jenny?”

Jenny lowered his hand, “I was just thinking, do we even know enough about this house to start investigating the odd occurrences and crap like that?”

“Yes Jenny,” Sidney replied sternly, “it's all in the report. Lucy, any questions?”

“No,” the small red-head replied.

“Good,” Sidney said as she flipped open the report and turned to the third page. “You'll see on page three that the victims are listed. Marjorie Bennett, Felicia Gaurdine and Lauren Gamble.” The photos were in greyscale, Marjorie was a Blond, Felicia, possibly a red head, or orange haired. Lauren was a brunette. Each of the women had a photograph from their high school graduation. They all smiled, theirs were the smiles of angels ascended, not knowing they'd be cast from grace with the speed of a rogue meteorite.

“And on the next page, you'll see, Giles Hendersen; the murderer.”

“Attempted murderer.” Jenny quipped.

“Whatever,” Sidney rolled her eyes. “Now, I brought with us a Ouijia board and our camera and audio equpiment. We'll use the board a bit later.”

“Um, excuse me...” Jacob interjected.

“Yes?” Sidney asked as she turned the page.

“We are going to be using that broken devil board?”

“Yes.”

“Do you not remember what happened the last time you and I used it?”

“Yes...”

“What happened?”

Sidney coughed. “No comprende...”

“We got our ears chewed off by Gabriel.”

“But at least we got an angel.”

“But we could have gotten a devil.”

“Oh yeah,” Jenny said, “I remember that. Man...I was fucked up that night.”
“When did all this happen?” Lucy asked. “I would have wanted to meet Gabriel.”

“A while ago Lucy,” Jenny said. “But you would have been pretty frightened. I mean he was pissed as a mother fucker.”

“Why?”

“Quiet!” Sidney shouted. “We're using the ouijia board, and that's final. Turn the page.”
Everyone did as they were told. They were met with the icy cold stare of a man with an almost coal-black complexion. He was extremely thin, his hair black and wavy, and his eyes opened wide. He looked to be no older than twenty-two, and a bullet hole was on the left center of his forehead. The image was a sudden one, and quite jarring. Like the image of a very realistic spider in a pop-up book.

“Oh wow,” Jacob said, “They used his death pic.”
“His credentials more than make up for it.”Sidney said.
“Man, that's just racist.”
“Whatever. Anyway, let's go over the victims first.”

Marjorie Bennett
Age: 19
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Female
Education: Nursing Student, Mississippi State University
D.O.B.: 2-4-1940
D.O.D.: 5-11-1959

Felicia Gaurdine
Age: 21
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Female
Education: Chemistry Student, Mississippi State University
D.O.B.: 11-4-1938
D.O.D.: 5-11-1959

Lauren Gamble
Age: 17
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Education: Education Student, Mississippi State University
D.O.B.: 2-4-1942
D.O.D.: 5-11-1959

Giles Hendersen
Age: 40
Ethnicity: colored
Gender: Male
Education: Unknown
D.O.B.: 6-3-1909
D.O.D.: 5-11-1959


“I thought his credentials would make up for his bad profile pic.” Jacob said.
“Turn the page.” Lucy said as she looked up from her paper. “He did a lot of stuff!”

Jacob turned the page, and found a huge block of text all about what the murderer had done.

1-27-1960: Further investigation into the Sundown County mass murderer's identity has revealed some very interesting information. Previously it was assumed this negro was uneducated. However, research has shown that to assume this was a grave misjudgement. The gentleman was a linguist, a psychoanalyst, a lawyer, and a dream analyst. In addition to being an analyst, he also delved into the occult, and after finding his actual house, in upstate new york, it was soon found that he was an intimate friend with Aliester Crowley. It is quite astounding how this negro has come so far in under forty-years. I am both proud, and yet, I am frightened. What powers might he have learned from the witches...I only pray he is truly dead. His body disappeared soon after his autopsy.

Det. L. Perkins-Hawley​

“Whoa...” Jenny said as he looked at the paragraph. “He was with Aleister Crowley? Dude must have been badder than a mother fucker...”

“Giles must have been.” Sidney said, “he was in a number of secret societies that were for only European, Caucasian men. Which meant, he had some pull. And his specialty was Fantasies. He could tell your fantasies from your dreams. What you always wanted. It's very interesting.”

“Well, you can pretty much tell from my dreams what I always want, huh Debs?” Jenny said as he grabbed Debbi's sides. Debbi drew up, threw her head to the sky and squealed with a sound that was not unlike a frightened chicken.

“Jennaro! Stop it!” She squirmed and giggled. “Haha! Damn it boy, HEEE!”

“JENNY!” Sidney snapped. “Sit down.”

 

[Journia]

Chapter Two

It was so cold that day, that in daylight, you could see the dragonesque columns of steam that rose from the mouths of every person from a mile away. That was because it never dissipated, but merely hung there, as if immortal, as if unaccountable for the dangers of hanging in the world of mankind for too long. As if it wouldn't suffer for it.

Giles Hendersen​

“Is anyone here?”
Silence.
“Is this Giles Hendersen?”
Silence.
“Do you know what our desires are?”
Silence.
“Did you kill the young women here?”
Slam.

Sidney turned around and looked down the hall, her flashlight and night vision camera, focused on the only door in the hallway. Was that the wind or was that a spirit in the house? She crept slowly toward the doorway. As she did so, the doorway opened again, it's opening like a great maw, and shut suddenly with a terrifying bang.

A warm breeze came from the door; it enveloped her in its being and swirled about her. Causing all tension to leave her as she inched closer and closer to the door. Again, the door opened, then slammed shut with a clap. She stopped just before she got to the door and pulled out her radio.

“Contact.” she said, “Fifth floor, east wing. The corridor with one door at the end.”
“How close is it?” Jacob replied.
“Very.” Sidney said, “I'm about to open the door.” SLAM.
“Sidney?” Jacob called urgently, “Sidney!”
“I'm here. The door has been slamming.”
“I'm sending Jenny up there now.” He cut the connection.

Sidney couldn't wait for Jenny. She opened the door and was faced with a dark room, with an open window as tall as her and three feet off the floor. The night was cloudy, and the skies were a dim pinkish yellow mixture. Not dramatic in the least. It looked as if it hid something within it.

A warm wind came from the window, Sidney could smell water on the air, the clouds wereabout to burst. Rain was about to drench the soil, and here Sidney was without her umbrella. Sidney sighed and picked up her radio.

“Jacob,”
“Yes?”
“False alarm.”

At one o'clock in the morning, Sidney called everyone to the living room. In five minutes everyone was present, and she presented them with the ouijia board.

“A new one,” Jacob said with little enthusiasm.
“Yes,” Sidney said as she looked at the board. It was made of polished wood, hinged in three pieces, and the letters, numbers and phrases of a typical board, were carved in its surface. The planchette was made of oak with a strip of redwood for the arrowed portion. “I payed a lot of money for it. I wasn't going to lose one like we did with Gabriel.”
“You guys seriously met Gabriel?” Lucy asked.
“Yes.” Jenny said as he sat down beside Lucy. He waited until Lucy began to sit down, and placed his fingers under the seat of her pants. When she was just about to sit on his hand, he scribbled his fingers on her denim clad bottom. Lucy shrieked and looked down at the seat. Nothing was there. She looked at Jenny, who was looking out the window, whistling a haunting melody as the rain tapped on the windows in a rhythmic pattern that made the whistling, that much darker.

“Ass hole.” she hissed. Jenny turned around, looking quite confused.
“What?” He smiled. Lucy smacked the back of his head. “Ow, hey! Maybe it was Gabriel!”
“Settle down, both of you,” Jacob said, “I'm not going to participate in this game.”
“It isn't a game.” Sidney said.
“Oh, but it is!” He said pointing his right index finger into the air, “It is a game of chance which could end in any multitudinous possibility. Including death.”
“People die every day, Jacob.”
“And they might have played with a ouijia board.”
Sidney put her hand on Jacob's. “Please?” she smiled.
“No.” it was said with such sharpness and brevity that it almost felt to Sidney like he thrust a stone at her. “You can play a game of chance if you like, but I refuse.”
She sighed, “Fine. But you're going to miss out on the fun.”
“On most kinds of fun we agree, buto n this, we enjoy a delight of a different sort.” He left the room.

The quiet of the living room was decorated with the patterings of the raindrops as they pelleted the windows and brought about an orchestra of lilliputian clapping on the ground outside. And the voices of the four people centered about the ouijia board were an inlay of diverse colored gems. The fire crackled warmly as they held their hands lightly over the planchette.
“How old are you?” Sidney asked. No response.
“Are you Giles Hendersen?” No response.
“Are there any spirits I nthis house?” No response.
“Yo motha fucka,” Jenny shouted, “Get ya dead ass ova heah!”
“Jennaro!” Sidney hissed. The board trembled, and the planchette moved. At first it was in any direction, but then it slowed, and began to move into discernible characters.

I-A-M-G-I-L-E-S

Sidney felt electrified by this experience. “How did you die?”
M-U-R-D-E-R.

“How did you meet the girls that died here?”

B-R-O-T-H-E-L.

“Ooooh snap.” Jenny whooped. “Looks like they weren't so innocent after all!”

“No one is innocent,” Debbie said. “Were they whores?”

YES.

“How much did ya pay for them?”
N-O-T-H-I-N-G.

“Were they whores?” Lucy asked.

NO.

“Aw shit.” Jenny sighed.

“Is it true what they say about you being able to tell a person's fantasies?”

YES.

“Can you tell us ours?”

YES.

“What's mine bro?”

T-O-R-O-M-A-N-C-E-A-W-H-O-R-E.

“Aaahaha, L.O.L. Man, he's right!”
“Dirty boy,” Debbie said as she nudged him. “You won't be gettign that anytime soon.”
“Hands on the board please!” Sidney commanded.
L-U-C-Y-W-A-N-T-S-T-O-M-A-R-R-Y-A-W-R-I-T-E-R-A-N-D-H-A-V-E-C-H-I-L-D-R-E-N.

“He's right!” Lucy said with much astonishment. I don't know how, but he's right!”

D-E-B-O-R-A-H-W-A-N-T-S-T-O-B-E-W-E-A-L-T-H-Y-K-E-E-P-H-E-R-Y-O-U-T-H-A-N-D-D-I-E-H-A-P-P-Y.

“That's all I ever wanted. Heh, wow.”
T-Y-P-I-C-A-L.
“HEY, WHAT THE FUCK?”

“What about my fantasy? What is my deepest, most secret fantasy?” She looked around her, as if the spirit of Giles was above her.

There was nothing. The Planchette did not move. For a whole minute they sat in silence. Finally Jenny broke the icy silence.
“I guess that means Sidney is as stagnant as a hundred year old pond.”
Dude,” Debbie said, “that wasn't funny.”
“I know, it needed something.”
“Maybe Giles can't find mine.”
“Nah, if he found ours, he can find yours, unless you ain't got one.” Jenny chuckled.

“Let's go.” Sidney said.
“Ah, pissed cuz the ghost don't like you?”
“No. I am tired. It's three a.m.”
“Nah, you're just sayin' that cuz you're pissed.”
“No,” Debbie said, looking at her watch, “She's right, it is.”

Sidney walked into the bedroom and looked at Jacob. He was a tall, thin, but muscular individual, and his body was draped in a black bathrobe. He read a novel as he sat there. And without looking up, he said, “How was the talking board.”
“It was okay. The others had a ball with it.”
“As usual,” he looked at her, “but, I take it, you didn't?”
“Well,” she said as she pulled off her sneakers, “I was just asking the questions.”
“But something troubles you.”
“Well, we asked the spirit to tell us our fantasies.” She peeled off her socks and walked into the closet. “And it got everyone's fantasy right but mine.”
“Then the powerful giles hendersen is not as powerful as he thought himself to be.”
“No, you don't understand.” Sidney said as she leaned from behind the closet door, donning a nightgown, “I asked about my fantasy, and the board stopped all movements.”
“Oh?”
“Yes,” she said as she walked out, folding her jeans and placing them on a chair. “But the strangest thing happened when he went silent.”
“And that would be?” He looked at her as she climbed into bed with him. He closed his novel, his interest piqued.
“I felt soft, touches on the bottoms of my feet. Thousands of them, and only for a few moments. It seriously tickled.”
“And you did not laugh?”
“It took all of my strength not to laugh.”
“Well, maybe that is your fantasy?”
Sidney smiled, “I would say, 'you have no idea,' but I'll say this. I'm already more than halfway there.” She smiled, and kissed him on the cheek, then turned the light off.

 

[sadi]

😱 Ahh, no more?! :huh

 

[Journia]

chapter three

The next few weeks passed without much eventfulness. The recordings Sidney and her team had captured yielded no results. The only way they knew that Giles Hendersen had even been there was by their experience with the oujia board, and that had not been recorded. Sidney was understandably dismayed by the whole situation. She vowed to get better recordings the next time.

It was three a.m. And Sidney woke dizzily from her slumber. She didn't dream, or she thought she did not dream because she never could remember what played about her psyche in the time she was at rest. She stumbled into the bathroom, turned on the light and stood there, keeping her balance as she waited for her eyes to adjust to the sudden light.

She wore a short night shirt, and a pair of gray pajama pants. The bathroom was large, and completely white. The mirror showed Sidney her wiry form against the stark backdrop of the dark rooms behind her.

She stretched he arms above her head and bent over. She turned upright and gasped. She turned around, saw nothing, and turned back to face the mirror. She could have sworn she saw someone looming just out of the reach of the light She turned the faucet and began to wash her face. The cool, refreshing water cascaded down her forehead, , trembled as droplets on her lips before dropping back to the slick concave slope of the sinkbowl.

Then she felt the strong hands on her shoulders.

Her eyes grew large and she froze in time. Her heartbeat thundered in her temples and as she slowly turned her eyes toward the mirror, she broke out in a sweat colder than the water she cooled her face with. On her shoulders were two bare hands. They were long, slender, almost feminine, and the skin was absolutely black.The nails were thick and filed to points. Her eyes rose higher and she saw the thin, waist, torso, shoulders and finally face of Giles Hendersen.

His face was exactly as it was in the photograph, except, his eyes were open, and they were bright, yellow, and his teeth were filed to points as he smiled.

“G-Giles...” Sidney stammered as she stood there, forced down in the position in which she stood, “Giles, are you--” She never spoke the next words because Giles cut her off.
“I know your fantasies. All of them. In all their macroexistence and minutiae.” He stood her upright, and smoothed her hairs about her shoulders, his cold, unfeeling hands glided along her shoulders before he leaned her to the right, as if she were doing an oblique stretch, and held her there.

“Giles...no...don't...”
“I know them all.” He said moments before her began to walk two of his fingers up and down her tautly stretched belly. Her sides trembled and her knees began buckling.
“Geshehe...Giles! Nohohoh!!!” She squealed as she collapsed to the floor and attempted to curl into a ball. “GILES!!!” She broke down into uncontrollable squeals and shrieks of partly terrified, partly pleasured laughter.
“I know them all, and they all will be enacted upon you.”
“No, GILES AAAAHAHAAA!!” She tried to kick at the ghost as he continued walking his fingers along her torso, now venturing into her broad belly. “GAAAHAHAAA!!!”
“I know them all, and they all know me...” His fingers now danced along her ribcage. Her eyes were shut tightly for fear if they were open they'd fall out of her head and tears were rolling down her cheeks.
“And you will never escape them.” He hissed. His eyes grew red and his teeth grew longer, bloodier, and his head grew sharper. Leathery wings sprouted from his back and his fingers grew to claws, and his talons dug into Sidney's flesh.
“GAAAAAAAAH!!!” She screamed in anguish as the talons drew a long line down her side, from her armpit to her hip.
“And I will be back.” He hissed as he faded as suddenly as he had come. Sidney lay there in silence, the sound of the faucet the only reminder that she was indeed, for now, alive; and that she was indeed awake.

“Hello?” the voice on the other end of the phone greeted. “Hello?”
“...Jacob?”
“Sidney?”
“...Yeah.”
“What brings you to call so early?”
No reply.
“Sidney?”
“Giles was here.”
“Were you using the ouijia board again?”
“No...he...he was in my bathroom.” Sidney paused for breath, “he was tickling me.”
Jacob chuckled, “Really now. A powerful, dead sorcerer comes in your bathroom, and tickles you?”
“Yes. You don't believe me?”
“Well, we only have your testimony.”
“Well, he also scratched me.”
“...What?” Jacob replied in a serious tone. “He scratched you?”
“Yeah, from my armpit all the way to my hip. It's still bleeding a bit, and burning like Hell.”

The knock at the door had surprised Sidney, and she was even more surprised to find Jacob at the door. It had been nearly half an hour since she hung up on the phone with him. He was dressed in a dark overcoat and a fedora cap. His coat was dampened by the light drizzle that lay siege on the city that morning.

They stood facing each other for moments, the only sounds being the pitter patter of the drizzle outside and the tick-tock of the second hand of the alarm clock. Then, Sidney closed the door. Jacob hung up his coat.

“I thought it was a dream, until I saw the blood.” She said of thescratch as she felt the cool peroxide laced cotton ball gingerly slide down her wound.
“Do you want me to take you to the hospital?” He said as he applied more disinfectant to the cut.
“No, I'm fine, I just need to get some rest. And then figure this out afterward.”
“M'hm.”
“Thanks for coming over even though I didn't ask.”
“Friends do things like that.”
“I guess.”
“Well, that's what any friend is supposed to do.”
“I'd rather that any person would do it.”
“If we lived in a perfect world.” He got up and went to the bathroom. Moments later he came back out again. “Did you write with your blood?”
“No...” Sidney entered the bathroom, not knowing what she'd actually find. She looked on the floor, and saw nothing. Then on the mirror, and found to her horror, that three names were written.

Sidney Lucinda
Deborah​

For the past ten minutes, Lucy had been kicking and squealing on the floor of her dorm room. A sensation on the bottoms of her feet similar to having her feet fall asleep, only a thousand times more extreme, had subdued her and transformed her into a desperately thrashing, cackling lump of flesh. She had gone out to the library and had left at two in the morning, an hour before it closed, and walked all the way across the campus in the rain, when she could have taken the expedient campus shuttle.

She was eating some fruit cocktail out of the can when it happened. The soft buzzing that heralded it; it was a mere irritation, a nuisance, she just stamped her feet and it went away. But then, it returned, and it was stronger. A distinct tingling sensation which caused her to wriggle her toes itchily as she tried to quell the attack. But it did not cease, it merely grew stronger.

Soon it became a harsh tickling sensation, and she kicked her feet as if someone wereh olding her ankles and diggign their nails into her soles. She rolled on the floor, and crashed into the sofa, blocking her path, she futilely clawed at the air.

“Stop, STOP!” She cried in vain, her shrieks like the call of a hen whose neck was being wrung. “Whoever's doing this, just stop!” At that moment, in the midst of the tickling, a tall, dark shadow walked through the wall and stood over Lucy as she struggled with her unseen tormentor. It stood there for the next five minutes, looking over her, watching her, perhaps reveling in deviant satisfaction at her plight. While Lucy kicked and squealed and cried tears of laughter and desperation. And then the tickling ceased. And the shadow, still watching her, walked backward, and disappeared into the wall.

Lucy heaved air into her lungs and held it, then exhaled, and repeated the process again and again, until she finally stopped trembling. She backed up against the sofa, and kept looking at the wall. She had no intention of going into her bedroom which was on the other side of that wall, ever again after this. She kept staring at the spot where the entity entered and exited, as if it would reappear.

The sudden brush of a soft, spiky tentacle along the small of her back, sent her across the room, screaming and flailing her arms before she tripped over the small japanese dining table she had bought from a friend. She tumbled to the floor and rolled over, facing the ceiling.

“Ugh, damn,” she groaned as she sat up. She saw her cat watching her from the sofa arm. It tilted it's head in a manner as if to say, 'ARE YOU OKAY?' She let her head fall back to the rug she lay on. The room exploded with a huge dark cackling that echoed throughout the dormitory, and seemed focused right beside Lucy's ears. The cat jumped off of the sofa and shot into the kitchen to hide in the cupboard it usually took shelter in.

“GAAAAAAAHHH!!!” Lucy wailed as she burst out of the dorm quad into the falling rain. Her feet wet and muddy, she ran down the path screaming like madwoman.


Later in the afternoon, the six members of the group sat in the headquarter room. Everyone but Debbie and Jenny were stressed ou by this situation.
“And you say, you guys were attacked?” Debbie said as she drank her beer. She rested her barefeet on the table in the middle of the room.

“It wasn't an ordinary attack,” Lucy said, as she held her knees, “It was a tickle attack.” She shuddered.
“Well, I wouldn't know if I was attacked or not.” She said as she sipped more beer. “Jenny was splitting my sides all night long.”
“And she was lovin' it too!” Jenny called from the refrigerator. “I had her covered.”
“You two don't believe it then?”
“Nah, not really.” Jenny said. “I need some proof before I can elieve that.”
Sidney got up and lipted up her shirt “How's this for your God damned proof?”
“Whoa,” Jenny and Debbie said in unison.
“When did you dye your hair blonde?” Jenny asked; everyone in the room went quiet, and turned to him. “What? It's a legitimate question!” they all turned away from him while shaking their heads. “What?! I thought she was a black haired chick!”
Jacob's eyes rose from the book he was reading for only a moment, “I shall call a demonologist.”
“That would be wise,” Sidney replied, “who do you have in mind?”

The small woman's heels clicked on the porcelain floor. She wore a pair of black pants, and a black t-shirt. Her hair was dyed blood red and her large dark eyes were framed by elegant black wire rim glasses. Her small angular face, was framed by her red hair and her lips were a thin line about her face.

Jacob opened the door and greeted the visitor. “Melisse Toussad.” he said as he stuck his hand out.
“Hello,” Melisse said as she grabbed her greeter's hands in a friend'ly embrace. “How are you Jacob?”
“You two know each other?” Sidney said as she poked her head out of the office door.
“She is a friend of mine from High school.”
“Oh,”
“I'm very pleased to be working with you on this project.” Melisse said as she bowed, “I've always wanted to vanquish a tickle demon.”
“A what?” Sidney asked not shure of what she just heard.
“A tickle demon,” Melisse replied. “I knew that's what you had when Jacob described it too me.”
“Just because it tickled me?”
“Well, most of them delight in scratching their victims or tearing them to shreds. This kind just likes to tickle. Dreadfully so.”
“How do we get rid of it?”
“We have to go find the body of the man the tickle demon was. In your case your Jill Henderson.”
“Giles Hendersen.”
“Oh, right. Sorry.”
“How long should it take?”Sidney asked as she led Melisse up the stairs.
“First we have to go back to the house, and do a purification ritual on the entire estate.”
“That might be a problem. Are you willing to travel?”
“Yes, I'd love to travel.”
“To missisippi?” There was a pause. “To mississippi?”
“...Yes.”
“Then what do we have to do?”
“Then we have to bless the body. Because most likely, the human host was not the body that the demon came with.”
“That seems logical.”
“Of course it is.”
“It seems easy as well.” Sidney said as she placed her hand on the door knob to the main room.
“It won't be easy,” Jacob interjected.
“Why?” Sidney and Melisse asked, turnign their heads suddenly.
“Because after the autopsy Hendersen's body disappeared, do you recall?”
qw “Then, that means that we have an exponentially more difficult job ahead of us.”
“Why?” Sidney asked Melisse.
“Because,” she replied as she turned the knob, “that means the demon is a powerful one. More powerful than other demons like him.”

“Who's this bitch?” Jenny asked with a laugh. Melisse's ears twitched and she looked for the origin of the voice. When she saw who spoke, her face burst into a smile.

“Jennaro!” She squealed as she ran over to the young man.
“Melli!” He said as he opened his arms out to hug her. Melisse's smile turned to a frown as she shot a punch into his crotch.
“Don't you ever call me a bitch again, got it bucko?” She said in an East London accent. Jenny was so stunned that he fell on the floor, on his side, holding his crotch.

“I knew he'd get what's coming to him, one of these days.” Jacob said with an uncaring tone and an uncaring stare.
“It's sort of what she gets, being that, she opened the door.” Sidney said under her breath.

The next day, the group had booked a flight back to Mississippi and were in a van heading down toward the Bohr Mansion in Sundown County. It was early in the morning and the darkness of the night was like an interminable cloak that held all within its seemingly invincible grip.

“Stop the van,” Sidney said, “I need to get some air.”
“There's a rest stop up ahead,” Melisse said as she looked over the map. “We could all use some air, some refreshments,” she yawned, “some sleep.”
“You've been sleeping since we left New York!” Lucy said, “What are you, Narcoleptic?”
“No, studying demons is very hard work. Especially if you're haunted by them.”
“Tell us more about the Tickle Demon.”
“Oh, God, I odn't believe this,” Debbi said, still unbelieving in the incidents that befell her and Lucy.
“Well, Tickle Demons come in many forms. They can be like apparitions of the dead, or they can look like the ram-headed men you see represented as a satanic creature in the media. Or they can be in the form of uh...” She looked around in an uncomfortable manner.
“Of...?”
Melisse coughed, “Black Slaves,”
“What tha fuck?” Jenny, who had been sleeping, until that moment exclaimed as he sat up, “tell me about this shit...” He looked at Jacob, who was listening to some music on his walkman.
“He is NOT a black slave,” Sidney hissed.
“Well, he is black...”
“He's really dark chocolate.”
Well, he's african-american.”
“So?”
“He's more than halfway there.”
“Shut up!” Sidney snapped, her anger rising.
“I'll call him so many names...”
“Don't make me use some names I've got for you!”
“Butt head!”
“Wetback!”
“Gringo!”
“Your mama was a wetback!”
“So? At least my mama didn”t try to get over on the native people of another continent!”
“Are you complimenting me?”
“No, I'm calling you a murderer of my people!”
“That's the most ignorant thing I've ever heard you say!”
“Well, what'd you expect? I am Ignorant!”
There was a silence in the car that might have lasted for as long as the van moved had not Lucy broken it. “Well, just remember, Jenny said it.”
“There is a rest stop up ahead,” Jacob said, “I'm going to pull in there. We can get food, drinks, and some shut eye. Is everyone agreeable to that?” He turned around and pulled his headphones off. “Is that okay with everyone?” Everyone stared at him in silence. “Alright then.” He turned and put his headphones back on.
“Mm, mm, mm...” Jenny said with a smile and a shake of his head, “Driving Miss Daisy.”
Sidney forced Jenny's head into the wall of the van.
“Agh, fuck woman!”

Everyone had gotten out of the car at the rest stop. It was a twenty-four hour establishment, which got very lonely at night. Sidney went into the restroom and washed her face. She placed her glasses on the sink and cupped her hands. She had just finished washing, and was reaching for a paper towel, when she felt two slender hands wrap about her belly.

She smiled, it had to be Jacob. He always would come up from behind, quietly as a cat, wrapping his arms about her waist and knotting them at her navel. She often wished that he'd drag one of his fingers along the rim of, or even into her navel. Drive her into hysterics. But she could only dream. Jacob planted a kiss on the nape of her neck. She grinned.

“You know, Jenny was talking about you,” she said as she placed her hands on his wrists. “I know it's all in fun, but sometimes, I wonder, I really wonder...”

Another kiss, another smile.
“It's like, he loves being an antagonist. Picking on you and I.”
A soft breath, mint scented, cold.
“It wouldn't surprise me if he really is racist. My family is just like that, such nationalists, I can't stand it sometimes, you know?”
“I know...” Jacob's voice tickled her ear.
“You're so calm Jacob,”
“I know...” he held her close to him.
“I'm glad I met you.”
“I know...” He let his index finger wander about her navel. Her belly quivered and her smile broadened.
“J-Jacob...” She feels his finger halt, “No, no, go on...”
Another kiss. Another smile. Another drag. It's easy to do, like smoking a spliff; once you begin its hard to let one go unfinished. Especially if the police catch you.

Sidney sniggered, Jacob's finger fluttered over her navel, and her grin bore teeth. Another kiss later, and Sidney was chuckling with delight. A few more strokes and she had fallen back on Jacob and was laughing with some abandon.

“Oh, Jacob, I'm so glad you know,”
“I know.”
“So, happy you know my fantasy...”
“Don't you wish I were Jacob?” The terror that filled Sidney was like someone scratching a record on its player. She stopped laughing at these words and looked in the mirror, the image was blurry.
“Jennaro?” She hissed as she snatched her glasses up and placed them on her face. She looked at the image, and she nearly screamed.

Giles Hendersen stared at her from the mirror, bullet hole and all. His eyes contrasting starkly with his skin, as dark as the curtains of the universe. His teeth, long and canine, shined white in the mirror, though in reality, they could have been worms in a jawbone.

“Did I not tell you I would be back?” He said hugging her tighter. “I must admit, I did enjoy your apartment better, but I am adaptable. We shall have so much fun together, you, and your two friends. Particularly Deborah. She seems to like me a lot.” He narrowed his eyes. I'll have to get rid of the others. Melissa and that coward, Jacob.”

“He's not a coward.”
“He won't indulge you in your fantasies. He is.”
“He loves me.”
“What is love but acceptance? He does not care for your fantasies.”
“He still loves me.”
“He, my Sidney, is as stagnant as a hundred year old pond.”
Sidney gasped in realization. Giles smiled as he faded into the air.

 

[Journia]

Chapter Four

“It's jenny.” Sidney said to Lucy, Jacob, Debbi and Melisse. She had gathered everyone but Jenny, together in the dining area in a sort of coven to reveal what she had learned through deduction and experience. Everyone was stunned, and then, things began to fall into place in the heads of the investigators.

“Jenny did find the article,” Lucy said.
“He's not a demon,” Debbi said.
“He got the address right on the first try,” Sidney said to Lucy, who nodded in agreement.
“And he found all the info on the damned place!”
“He isn't a tickle demon,” Jacob said.
“He tickles Debbi every chance he gets!” Sidney cried.
“Debbi's also his girlfriend.”
“That's right,” Debbi said, “besides, he can't be a demon.”
“Why not?”
“He's got Morals!” There was an odd silence, and everyone stared at her. “What? He does!”
“I'm with Debbi,”Jacob said in a decided tone, “I don't believe he is a Demon. Much less, a Tickle Demon.”
“He hates you,” Sidney said in a pleading manner, “the very fact that he has such malice for you and I should speak volumes as to his demonic origins!”
“Be that as it may, it would be unethical to just accuse him, on my part, without first doing an investigation.”
“An investigation has already been done, the reports compiled, and the evidence handed in for questioning.”
“Your investigation, your report, your evidence.”
“I was attacked by Giles, he's threatened us, and he revealed himself to be Jennaro!”
“In the words of Mao Tse-Tong, 'No investigation, no right to speak,'.”
“Fuck Chairman Mao! We have the demon in our midst! If we let him slip away now, who knows what will happen to the group?”
Jacob was silent for a moment that lasted for an eterntiy, “Even if he were, we still would have to go back to that house.”
“I'm not accusing anyone.” He replied in a finalizing tone. He stepped near Debbi, who took a step toward him. They had chosen their sides.
“If he is the demon, then we must isolate him, and then exorcise him.” Melisse said “But the exorcism may kill him. However, if the house is picked, then the demon can be exorcised into a familiar environment.”
“The man travelled the world, met diplomats and all other kinds of shit, how the fuck is this place not familiar enough?” Lucy asked, her eyes were red and tearing.
“Where his body lay, is where he must be,” Melisse said in a tone that said, “Try me,”

The ride to the Bohr Mansion from the rest stop took an hour; it was the most quiet hour ever known. No one spoke, even Jenny had nothing to say, he merely looked around, the quiet stunned him so. Upon arrival, the group removed their belongings and went into the house.

“Are we staying the night?” Jenny asked.
“Yes,” Sidney snapped. “Now shut up.”
“I'll wait in the car.”
“No you won't!” Sidney, Melisse and Lucy shouted, their eyes burned into his body like a brand fresh from the coals.
“O...kay...?” He stared at them nervously, “What's going on here?”
“Nothing, we're just tired of your Bullshit.”

Debbi and Jacob walked with Jenny as they put their stuff in the rooms they were in before. It was almost sunrise by the time Jacob settled in his room with Sidney. She was dressed in a black gown and she looked almost feline as she pressed her hands into the matress like two pillars, and stared out at her boyfriedn from under her bangs.

“We both know he's a demon.”
“No, you believe he is.”
“Bull shit.”
“Does not matter.” Jacob said as he pulled on his robe. “Until I investigate this further, I will not pass judgement upon anyone.”
“Then investigate it now.” She said as she turned over, taking the covers with her.

At three in the afternoon, everyone was up. They ate some food they had gotten from the all night diner at the rest stop. All eyes were either on Jacob, Debbi or Jenny.
“So,” Jacob began, “how was everyone's sleep?”
No reply.
“Well, don't all start at once. Mine was pretty peaceful. What of yours Debbi?”
“I don't dream.”
“And, Sidney?”
“Fuck you.”
“Hmmm, a bit sharp.” He turned to Melisse, “And you?”
“You know my dreams, devils devils and devils.”
“Lucy?”
“Bugger off.”
“Ouch, that would have hurt if I had thin skin. Jenny?”
“I didn't sleep.”
“What?” Debbi exclaimed.
“You didn't? That's a first!” Jacob said.
“I agree,” Debbi added.

“Our first job for today, is to get the full police report on this case.” Melisse said, “we can learn a lot about it and what our next move should be.”
“Agreed,” Sidney said, “I'll call the Sundown County PD and get on that immediately.” She took out her cell phone and walked into the next room.
“Jenny,” Melisse said turning to him, “why couldn't you sleep last night?”
“There was this crazy bumping noise. Like a squirell or something, trapped in the wall.”
“What did it sound like?”
“Like a squirrel,” he paused, “Oh, well, it sounded like, scrticha scritcha scritcha scratchityscratch scratch a scratchy scratch.” He moved his hands like he was a disc jockey scratching records.

“I see...” Melisse said.

“The cops are coming over now. They had the file ready in case we needed the rest of it the last time.”
“Thank you Sidney,” Melisse smiled. “Now, I have a plan. We use the ouijia board to find the body.”
“Why didn't we just use that before?”
“I wanted the full police report.”
“But we still could have used it before.”
“Look, I know what I'm doing.” Melisse snapped. “Now, I have a bag full of smudge sticks. We can use these to purify the rooms that are in this house, and isolate the demon in a single room. Preferably the living room.”
“Smudge sticks?” Jenny asked incredulously. “What tha fuck is a...”
“It's something that you'll learn about in a few minutes old chap.” Jacob said as he patted the man's head with his slender hand.
“And then we can exorcise him.”
“Who?”” Debbi asked cautiously.
“The demon.”
“Then, let's go.” Jenny said. “Let's get to purifying. And exorcising.”
“Jenny,” Sidney said, “come with me for a minute.”
“Why?”
“I've got a job for you.”
“Shit, for all I know, I'm gonna get locked up somewhere.”
“No you won't. You're an integral part of the team.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“Just come on idiot!”
“Fine,” he said as he left the room with her.

Ten minutes later Sidney ran back into the room, a ring of keys in hand.”I've isolated him. Now, let's get that police report.”
“What the Hell?” Debbi exclaimed, “you can't just lock him up in there!”
“I did,” Sidney shot back, “now, let's get that info!”
“No, this is just wrong. You don't even have any proof that he is this monster!”
“I got all the proof I needed this morning!”
“You are such Bull shit Sidney!”
“Should I care?” Sidney asked. “with a smile, “everyone but you and Jacob agree with me, Jenny is Giles Hendersen, and I am keeping us safe. After all, sometimes we must make sacrifices for the greater good of the group.”
“That is Machiavellian Bull Shit!”
“Um, I think that's Neitzscheian.” Jacob put in.
“Shut the fuck up!” Debbi and Sidney snapped.
“Debbi, I am not going to unlock that door until we get back. He might get away.”
“You better unlock my boyfriend immediately!”
“Or what?”
“Or I'll do it myself.”
Sidney placed her hands about her hips. “Ha, not without the...” She paused as Debbi produced from her back pocket, a silver pocket knife. “...keys.”
“Give me the keys then.” Debbi smiled.
Sidney paused, gauged Debbi's mannerisms, and then decided on her course of action. “No.” She sidestepped Debbi and began a dash to the front door that was cut short by Debbi's ankle which stuck out and caused her to tumble to the floor. Debbi sat down, knees apart and turned Sidney over in a single motion. Sidney watched in horror as Debbi elegantly flicked the pocket knife open and heard it click fast I nit's dagger-like position. She then raised the blade above her head and began to plunge it repeatedly into Sidney's belly and chest.

“No, NO NO!!!!” Sidney screamed as she struggled and thrashed under the covers, and finally threw them off, waking out of her sleep. Sweat rolled down her front and back, her hair was thick and tangled with perspirant, and her heart beat upon the walls of her chest to the point that for a moment, it could have burst from it.

No one but her was in the room. She remembered, Jacob had left the room because she was annoyed and he didn't want to deal with the crap. She was thankful for it at the time. Now she really wished he was in there with her. At least then, he would have had been able to comfort her. But she was alone.

Or was she?

There was motion in the darkness, a dark more imposing than the shadow of the night. More disturbing than anything that her mind could consciously dream up to terrify her to the end of her wits. It wasn't a fleeting image. It stayed there, as if arrogant enough to not flee from her gaze, as all other spirits do when living eyes fall upon the dead. Then it moved forward.

“Who is that?” Sidney called. There response was another step forward. “Jacob?'

Another step.

“Jenny....”

Another step.

“Lucy? Come on man, don't scare me like this!”

Another step.

“Say something at least!” her eyes were darting wildly about her again, “Say anything!”

Another step. What could have been arms slowly rose from its sides, and two bright yellow dots flickered into existence.
“OH GOD!” Sidney wailed as she tumbled off of the bed in a failed attempt to leap. She looked up at the dark figure, it's arms were held out at the sides, like a crucifix, and it's hands, spread apart, had two bright yellow, eyelet dots on each palm. Six in all, and all seemed to be laughing at her fear.

Slam, slam, slam! Her pulse thundered in her chest; a dynamo, revolving faster and faster, tearing every speed record to shreds in the course of a moment. And she could only stare as the shadow approached and loomed over her in its menacing grace and despair.

“Ssssad child of Adam...” the voice hissed softly. “In youth, thou shalt do what thou wilt, but what shalt thou do whence thine limbs begin to wilt?” three mouths appeared upon the figure, all of them filled with rows of teeth. One on the head, and one on each hand, and they moved in unison, repeating the phrase over and over. “Thou shalt do what thou wilt, but what shalt thou do whence thine limbs begin to wilt?”

“Stop talking! STOP TALKING!” Sidney screamed as the figure's voice grew greater, all encompassing, and echoed off the walls, the floor, the ceiling, and inside her head. She pressed her hands to her ears, and shut her eyes tightly as she fell to her knees, her nightgown sticking to her form because of sweat and tears. On and on the voices repeated the words, and then suddenly, they went silent.

Sidney lay on the floor, on her side, curled in a ball. Trembling in fear, eyes shut, ears plugged from the pressure of her hands against her lobes. It was several minutes before she realized that all had gone quiet.

She took her hands from her ears, and listened. It was gone. The beast that spoke so much was gone. Sidney opened her eyes, and looked around. Nothing but the room she was in. She rose to her feet and made her way to the door. She grasped the knob, it felt cold in her palm, it twisted reluctantly and she pulled the door open. The lit hallway greeted her as it usually did. She took a step out into the hallway, and inhaled the sweet, unshadowed air.

Her pleasure was short lived.

As if on cue, two dark, long, slender hands gripped her sides and dragged their fingers backward in a single, gown ripping stroke. It rendered Sidney completely nude. Sidney didn't even have time to gasp; she was grabbed by her arms and legs, and yanked back into the room, screaming like a condemned soul as the door slammed shut. She screamed as she floated there in the dark room above the bed. The grip of the hands was so light that she didn't feel it, yet so present that she could not escape.

“Now...” the voice of Giles Henderson whispered softly, almost compassionately, “we shall have some fun.”

“N-No...” Sidney gasped. Before her, the three headed beast appeared once more. But she knew who it was now. Somewhere in her mind, she always knew who it was. The three mouths were frozen in a frown the eyes were menacing, they sent goosebumps over her naked body like a net thrown over a wounded tiger.

There was no motion to the lips as they spoke. “What did you seek to accomplish by trying to defeat me?”
“I want to rid myself of your presence!”
“A murderer tried to kill me once. Only once. He shot at me, used lower level dark magic to send me back to Hell, and cut at me, so many hundreds of times.”
“And you died,”
“No, I was rendered unconscious. You must understand,” He said in a pleasant tone, “everything he did to me, came back upon everyone around him in reverse order. So, the girls I was with, were cut so many times. The man went to Hell. And I was shot in the forehead. But because all of it was etheric--”
“None of the weaponry was ever found.”
“Precisely. I think that about solves your questions.”

Sidney gasped as she felt a stroking sensation on the sole of her right foot. She curled it suddenly and flexed it. “No!” She cried almost begging. The sensation persisted, and with every passing millisecond, it grew greater, encompasing then her sole, then her whole foot, it was like she was wearing a sock made of stroking fingers. The same thing occurred to her left. “STOP IT!!” She screamed as she arched her back.
“Do you like it?” Giles asked knowing full well she didn't.
“Why?” she asked of the torture.
“Because I was made for it.” out of the darkness, two long, white feathers sailed down toward her bare body. Her eyes widened, and she let out an eldritch scream as one took her upper body and the other began to probe her legs.

The feather on her thighs flicked back and forth across her inner thighs, and caused them to twitch and shudder endlessly as one of Sidney's major weak points proceeded to be exploited. Every stroke of the long feather as it traveled from the back of the knee to the v-cut of her pelvic region and back down again, brought from under her consciousness a new level of Hell-born laughter.

The feather at her upper body worked over her navel; digging in the umbilical scar and detonating mines of sensitivity. The young team leader's belly shook convulsively as her laughter poured from her lips, filling the room with chuckles, giggles, squeals and shrieks.

The addition of two long, red, bumpy, slick tongues only added to her torture as they slipped and slid all over her hypersensitized form. She hung her head back, letting her long golden hair dangle below the small of her back, and screamed.

Her peals of laughter filled the entire house, yet no one was there to save her. No one was able to help her from her punishment. And Giles Hendersen was determined to teach the young, arrogant woman a lesson that she'd remember for all time. He had her, she knew it, he knew it. And as her body twitched, shuddered and shook from laugh after convulsive laugh, Hendersen leaned in and whispered in her ear, so softly she hardly heard it above her own laughter.

“By the end of your trip, your fantasy will be me.”

Sidney woke up, in a frenzy of tortured laughter, and continued laughing until she rolled off the bed and smacked herself on the floor. “Ow...”

 

[Journia]

chapter five

The Tickle Demon Chapter Five​

I had a terrible dream...” Sidney said to Jacob as they sat in the kitchen of the Bohr mansion, drinking tea, and cherishing one of the card of a quiet moment which fate had dealt them. “Debbi had killed me.”
“Oh?” Jacob raised his eyebrow while looking down at his tea. “How?”
“She used a pocketknife.”
“Did you let her kill you?”
“No, I don't think so.” She looked down at her cup, “then I woke up. Or,”
“You thought you did?”
“Yeah.”
“What was in the next dream?”
“Giles. Only, I didn't know it was Giles, until he appeared. I think he showed me his true form.”
“And what do you believe it was?”
“A Chimera, or a Hydra.”
“Oh? Do describe.” He said as he leaned in closer.
“Well, he walked forward, and there were six gold colored lights. Those were the eyes of his three heads. Then each head had a mouth. There was first, Giles' head, and then one head on each hand.”

“Hmm...hydra.”
“Yeah,” she sipped her tea, “
“What else happened?”

She smiled, Jacob had this way of caring about a person that didn't seem to be. Sidney enjoyed him for that. She felt like someone telling her story to a person that would never see her again. When he asked, “What else happened,” he didn't seem to care. But she knew he did. He knew he did. They both knew that each other was afraid for the other. They wantwd to be safe, but they knew they couldn't possibly protect each other for ever.

“He tickled me.”
“Hmm?” His brow rose again; trembled for a moment in fact.
“He tickled me. With long feathers, some kind of energy on my feet and long monstrous tongues. He stripped my gown and ripped it to pieces. He scared the crap out of me. I looked at my belly this morning, and I had six long bruises, and my feet aren't feeling anything right now.”

“You can't keep her with you forever,” the thought crossed his mind.


“How unfortunate,” Jacob said as he placed his palm over Sidney's own.
“Is the polic report coming?”
“I already got it.” He said as he pulled from his backpack, a manilla colored envelope and handed it to her. “This has everythign on the crime, and on the suspect.”
“When did you get this?”
“I got it when I woke up. I drove into the town and went to the police station.”
“That was a real risk.”
“I know. But Giles is an even greater risk.”
“Thanks, I'm sorry about being so snippy.”
“That's alright. Human beings are like that.”
“I guess, but there was no reason to treat you the way I did.”

There were a few minutes of quiet, the only sound was the sipping of tea. And then, Jacob spoke.
“Sidney,”
“Yes?”
“What is your darkest, most closely guarded secret fantasy?”
“Are you sure you really want to know?”
“Yes.”
“I'm going to have a bit of trouble telling you right out you know?”
“That's only psychological.”
She inhaled, “Okay, I--” The two of them were interrupted by a shriek and then breaking glass. Sidney and Jacob bolted out of the kitchen and into the living room. At one end of the room, Jenny lay slumped overo n the floor, bleeding from his head, and all around him broken glass.

“Holy shit...” Jacob said as he looked over the unconscious body of his comrade.

In the chimney, soot and chippings of brick fell to the floor in a ghostly gray cloud of smoky dust. The sound of claws or talons scratching at the walls of the chimney drew the two of them to the massive fireplace and upon looking up they saw Lucy rising farther and farther up the massive tube. Her nails were clawing at the sides of the chimney, and carrying her was a creature with long clawed feet and hands. It brought the bulk of the chimney to the floor in the aforementioned cloud.

“Help...me...” Lucy mouthed as she rose higher and higher. Her frightened eyes were wide with horror.

“NO!” Jacob screamed as he watched the beast carry her away. It wasn't a despairing no, but like he was angrily telling a child, “No, don't you fucking do that.” The beast stopped for a moment, and then continued up carrying with it, Lucy and possibly her soul.

Melisse danced around her room, buttoning up her jeans, and moonwalking in her socks.
“What is love? Baby, don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more!” Melisse sang as she danced around, listening to the piece of music. She bent backward and stood on her hands and walked around for a bit. Her dance was interrupted as she tried to return to her feet. Her ankles were stuck in the air and upon inspecting them, she saw that two dark hands had grabbed her ankles. She hung there in the air and for a moment was stunned that this was going on.
“Dear god...” she gasped. “No...no..no no!” She struggled to remove her ankles in vain, and her struggling increased as two more dark hands lowered from the ceiling and began to dance along her socked soles.

Melisse's peals of desperate laughter caused Sidney and Jacob to run faster to her room. They leapt stairs two at a time, and when they finally got to her room, they found her pinned to the floor, her shirt torn from her, and black hands squeezing, poking, prodding and stroking her body. Melisse's expression was of agony, and she tried to curl up in defense but the hands would pull her straight. In her agony, Melisse contiuned to reach out for a bottle of holy water that had toppled over on the floor, and lay only a few inches out of reach. A hand dug deep into her bountiful armpit, mining for explosive laughter which she reluctantly provided. As if she could resist.

Jacob seeing the bottle, grabbed it nd uncapped it. He spread it over the hands and dodged as one hand recoiled and then shot out at him as if it were a cobra. Sidney caught it in her belly and doubled over and fell on her bottom.

“HAAAAAAAHAAHAHAAAA!!!” She screamed as she tried to pull the hand and forearm from her belly. She arched her back repeatedly as the fingers danced over her firm, delectable belly. She dragged it one way, then another, and the hand seemed to stretched and its fingers would continue to titillate her torso. Finally, her strength overcame it after what seemed an eternity, and the hand was slung into a wall, and it fizzled out of existence. Jacob finished his work on Melisse and then he dashed out of the room.

Debbi sat in the bedroom, listening to her Ipod and snored softly in the glow of the sun. Jacob burst in woke her up. She lifted one eyelid and looked at him. She scanned him up, then down. Closed the eyelid slowly and then sighed.

“What is it?”
“Lucy's been kidnapped. Melisse's been attacked, and We've got to get out of here.”
“Damn,” she said as she got up. “I don't believe this shit.”
“Hurry hurry, we mustn't tarry.”
“Don't worry about me.” She said as she pulled on her sneakers. My stuff is packed and in the van, what about you all? And how the fuck are we going to get Lucy back?”
“I have an idea. But, you seemed pretty pissed off.” He said as he watched her put on her jacket. She had a nice arch of the back. She looked at him over her shoulder.
“Well, you did wake me up.” She smiled softly before leaving the room.

Melisse, Jenny, and Sidney sat in the back of the van while Debbi and Jacob sat up front. The crew drove for hours, and stopped at a hotel on a lonely road. In a single room, everyone gathered to hear Jacob speak. He looked at everyone seriously as he gauged their emotions.
“I, have a plan.” He said as he looked over everyone. “To get Lucy back, and to exorcise Giles Hendersen.”
“Spill...it...”Jenny said slowly. He nursed the throbbing scar on his head. He was infernally pissed.

“There is an address for a house in Upstate New York” Jacob said as he pulled out a paper. “This is Hendersen's other house. There should be a number of pieces of evidence there which can help up on our quest. Including pieces of magical equipment.”
“We don't even know how to use that shit,” Jenny sighed.
“Melisse and I do. And I have a number of friends in the church who do. We are very close. And they'll help.”
“Have they ever known of a Tickle Demon?” Sidney asked.
“From what I hear, they've been around for a while.”
“Do you have contacts in shit like, the Vatican?”
“...No...”
“Ah, dat's pussin'.”
“I...guess. Anyway, I can have them meet us at the Bohr Mansion, and we can get the info from the new york house.”
“That seems fair,” Sidney said, “what state are we in?”
“We're in Delaware...” Jacob said with a smile as he looked around. No one believed him. “WHAT? I DRIVE LIKE A BAT OUT OF HELL!”
“Who needs a plane when we have Jake?” Jenny said with a laugh that was cut short by his pain.

The next day they set off at six in the morning. They rolled into New York about an hour later, and continued up all day, near Buffalo. That evening was dark, frigid, and snow began to fall. They cruised down Farwate Street, and stopped at 2354. It was a small, two story house, squeezed between two larger houses. It almost seemed as if it were uncomfortable. Like a thin book crushed between two dictionaries on a shelf. There was a light on in the second floor window. Sidney got out and went up to the door.

“Hello?” She knocked three times on the large wooden portal. “Hello?”
“Go way,” the voice of a woman shouted from the window, “people tryna sleep in heah.”
“This is a grave emergency, we need help!”
“Get oudda heah!”
“Hey!” Jenny roared as he got out og the van, “Open da mutha fuckin' door bitch, we da police. Bitch.”
The light went out. There was silence; Jacob got out of the van, and smacked Jenny, “Don't talk to people like that!” He walked to the door and began to knock again, when the door opened. A shot gun pointed out and an explosion of powder and flame lit the night for a split second.

Sidney screamed, Jenny cursed and charged the unknown gunholder, and the rest of the crew tumbled from the car. The door was almost closed, but Jenny stuck his foot in the crack and sent a punch into the darkness. He felt it connect with flesh and he heard a crack, along with the familiar sensation of bone crumbling from bone. He whipped the door open and stormed in. There was another gunshot, and then the sound of a whoosh followed by a howl of pain, and Jenny squealing, “Yeah Motha fucka!” His delight was cut short, which was evident by the Oof, he gasped.

Debbi entered the room and flicked on the light. In the foyer, ion the floor, two men lay. The first was Jenny, and the second was an older male, with pale skin, short hair that had gone white for the most part but was peppered with brown and black in places. Sidney gasped as she looked at the man.

“Oh my God, Dad?”
“Hey honey...” The man said as he lifted his head up.
“You shot Jacob!”
“No he didn't,” Jacob said wearily as he looked at his t-shirt. A gray splash of powder covered him.
“Doesn't really matter. I thought you were one of those damned ghosts...seems to be the only thing that gets rid of the niggers.” There was an awkward silence. He glanced around as everyone gave him an awkward look. “What? I'm not talking about actual niggers.”

Sidney could remember when her dad first met Jacob, how he was always nice to him, but in private he talked about him like a dog. Her mother and siblings did the same. In their old living room, the family had above the entrance way, inconspicuously placed, a nazi swastika. Jacob saw it immediately when he first came to her house. He grinned, turned to the father with a challenging look on his face, raised his hand upward and shouted out, “Sieg Heil!” The look on her father's face was priceless.

Jacob had a way of worming into the hearts of people, and he soon got to each of his girlfriend's brothers and sisters. Finally, the parents. And the father had grown to like him after a while, and Jacob didn't mind it when the man called people the fabled, “N-Word,” it phased him not the least.

Sidney and Jacob explained the situation with Lucy and Sidney's father got the mother up and they went to the attic, and then the basement and colelcted papers and folders. They then sorted them and found a number of different articles.

There was a drawing of a huge creature, a bird, with long, clawed arms and legs, a plumed, purple body, and a yellow beak like a parrot's with large curving teeth.

There was a black figure with three heads, one on each hand, and one on the shoulders.

“It attacked me.” Sidney said of it.

There was a black ball, with hands reaching from it. The ball had a huge eye.

“And,” Jacob said, “That must have attacked you and Melisse,”
“Aye,” Melisse said as she shuddered. I still feel the crawliness.”

Then there was a diary. It was mostly empty, except for a few scrawled maps, and a a few pages of writing.

February 24th, 1945

My God,
I never believed in the afterlife, but now, I feel I must retract my position. I have seen the devil himself, and he is not a pleasant man. I've seen him take a negro up, and suck his bones dry, and throw his dried carcass upon the earth, taking up the dead man's form.

I fear he's come for me, because I didn't believe, but now, I do believe, but I assume it is too late. He was at my window yesterday morning, crouching there, naked, his long snake of a penis hanging down, his skin, dark as the night and shining in the early morning sun and his eyes white, maliciously white. Glaring at me in such a disturbing manner.

He crouched in a manner no man could possibly, his legs were like a frog's or a grasshopper's. Placed at angles like they'd been broken to take those positions. And he tapped at the window to wake me up. My God, his naked form has been seared into my mind, and he smiled, a great, canine smile and his eyes laughed at me. And on his palms...

His palms...

They had eyes and mouths! And they laughed and snapped their jaws at me! I fear he may devour me! My God in Heaven, take me that I may never meet the end that that poor negro did! Take me into thine refuge! My lord, my, God!

February 28th, 1945

Dear Lord, protect me! I've seen him again, and this time he tickled my feet! I can't understand what he wants! He grabbed my foot as I sat in my chair and he began tickling the sole vigorously, it was unnecessary to say that I could not control my laughter, but the beast continued!

This demonic entity, I've called my parish, but they won't be able to send an exorcist for a week, even though they are so near me. Benediction my face! Only you can save me lord, for I feel that whence they come, it will be too late.

Even now, I can hear him walking around in the attic! I FEAR HE WILL COME AND TORTURE ME TONIGHT! PROTECT ME LORD!! PROTECT ME!!!

February 29th, 1945

He attacked me again, and I swear to you, I could have died laughing if I hadn't tumbled down the stairs. I can only fight the beast off for so long, before I fall victim to his wiles and his power. I fear I may be sucked dry.

March 29th, 1945

This house is too small for my new body, Lord. Methinks I shall relocate. Don't you think so? Heh. Au revoir, mes amis.

G.H.

“Holy shit.” Melisse said, “that guy's a mother fucking possession case. And the worst kind.”
“What's the worst kind?” Jacob asked as he looked up.

“Karlochok,” said the old nun. “The highest of the demonic hierarchy.”
“Even more powerful than Satan?” Sidney asked.
“My dear,” The nun smiled wryly, “when you mention the name Satan, or Lucifer, to these beings, they laugh, then they ask, 'who is this imaginary man?' that is how powerful they are.”
The group had gathered in a church in New York City, where Jacob had called the night before to arrange a meeting with the priests. When he mentioned the name Karlochok, he was not sent to the Fqather, but the Mother Superior, who set up the meeting with the top demonologist in the church.

Sister Jaryln Negger was a lovely sixty-three year old woman who instead of the Habit, she wore a black dress and shawl, and a white turban. She had joined the church after she had her own bout with the nefarious demons, and she had defeated it. Once.

“But, when you have defeated them, they pause, then grow angrier. And are willing to kill you, because you are no more than an amoeba to them. Nothing to be concerned with.”
“How do we kill them?”
“You do not kill them, in the manner of bringing about their ends. You banish them from their location, from their body.”
“What if their body's been destroyed?”
“Man can not destroy a body possessed by them.”
“So, it can regenerate?”
“No, it will bear the marks in physical standards, but in Etheric Standards, only ethereal impacts will create ethereal scars.”
“What do we do if we find the body?”
“Take it, and burn it. If it is already burned, cast the ashes to the wind.”
“And that will Kill it?” Jenny asked.
“No, it can not die until it dies, it will be confused. It will have no place to go. It will be forced to find another body. Once the body is removed, you can perform an exorcism, to prevent it from taking over the house itself.”
“Like 1408?” She gave Jenny a look that said, 'brilliant,'
“Precisely.”
“Yeah, I'm great bitches!”
“Watch your mouth, young man.”
“Sorry,”
“Forgiven; now, you must also take care to pray faithfully before doing this. Or you may be possessed.”
“Alright.” they said.
“That's it.”
Oh, cool.” They got up and left the room.


“No...”
Lucy hung in the darkness, stripped completely naked, her bare frame stretched to four directions, her eyes so wide with terror that even then, the blue of her small eyes could be percieved. She stared straight up and would have shaken with terror were she not bound so tightly. Her breathing quickened as she saw a shape move in the darkness, her heart jumped in her throat. It descended, closing in, nearing her vulnerable body, shifting this way and that way until she realized what it was.

“No...no...”
Even in the darkness, she could clearly see, that this was one of the bird beast's purplish feathers. And it had probably come out of it's tail.

“Oh, please God, NOT AGAIN!”

It continued to descend, a light illuminating it's path as it spun down, almost like an oak tree's seed propellers downward in a seemingly endless spiral, locked on it's target. It finally came to rest on her pelvis. Her muscles tensed, and she stared at it, motionless. She expected it to move, but it did nothing. For minutes she stared at it, and nothing happened.

She did not sigh in relief, she continued to stare, in the back of her mind she wished she did not for fear that even her thoughts would cause the feather to move. After an eternity of staring, such that her eyes went dark on their own, she closed them. Her head hung back and she sighed.

And the feather began to move.

Lucy's eyes exploded open and she opened her mouth with a desperate plea. “GOD NO!! NOT AGAIN!!!” She desperately pulled as far as her binds would allow, as the feather danced on the outside of her vaginal region. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she felt the feather trace the labia once, twice, three times, and then circled out to the crease of the legsas they came together at the pelvis. For minutes Lucy endured this torture, until the feather appeared to fall away. No longer touched, as the last times it had happened, Lucy sighed.

But, unlike the previous times, much to her chagrin, she felt the feather as it traced her buttocks. They clenched tightly, and it continued to skate along her rump, and it sawed, uninhibited, along the crease of her bottom until it finally grazed her anus. Lucy's buns clenched tighter than before and the feather exploited this. It dug into her clenched buns further, and then wormed its way into her anus, and began going back and forth, in and out, and the sensations of the feather as it's plumes dragged along the walls of her anal canal, ebbed and flowed sharply, Lucy could not contain her laughter and her howls echoed in the darkness as the mingled with her pleas for release that already dwelled therein.

 

[Journia]

The dark hallways echoed with screams of desperation and peals of reluctant, but inevitable laughter. On the floor, men and women scuffled with dark hands whose fingers danced along their bare skin with electrifying effect. There was a dark haired man, his eyes poked from his head, the orifices bleeding, and inside them, a green feather twirled about, daubing themselves in the blood of the tormented. There was a red haired woman who was covered by fire, yet the fire was not flame, but ants glowing so brightly and moving with such fluidity that it seemed to be flame.

There were a pair of twins, their skin was almost as dark as the walls themselves.There was a sister and a brother, and they were both tormented by the hands. They could not run, they could not seek refuge from their titillating grip, and neither of them could escape the sensations from within, which were caused by the light scribbling of fingers from within their bellies, the prints of which could be seen on the skin of their torsos.

All of them cried for repentance, redemption, Heaven, anything but what they were suffering now. This was Hell to them. And their ruler was omnipresent, a darkness even darker than their own hearts, or skins. And more powerful, it seemed, than God's own graceful name.

And he approached. This would be their end, they could feel it in their bones. With every step their overseer took, it seemed an earth would shatter; a universe would be born, live, and die, the lifespan being from the initial click of his heel, to the final lift of the tip of his boot.

Click. Slide. Lift.
Birth. Life. Death.

Again.

The men and women continued to scream as they stewed in their own misery, yet hoped for a redemption. They did not want to die by the hands of this beast. Yet as he ascended the stairs, they could feel a little bit of them die already. Along with each universe. A hope dashed before it could mature.

Again.

The door at the end of the hallway opened, and the devil stood in the darkness. His limber form draped in his finely tailored suit. His six eyes and three mouths laughing evilly. He had them, he knew it. They could not deny it. They did not deny it. They wanted out. And he would give them what they hungered for.

He took a step into the corridor, and his boots were illuminated by the flames that sprang up about him. The corridor roared not with laughter, tormented and reluctant, but with the cracking and explosive power of the flame as it grew in magnitude and height and rushed down the corridor, like a wall of water, dousing everything in it's incendiary might.

The beast walked forward, taking in the horrid sight of the human souls as their ethereal skins peeled off, their muscles shriveled, their bones brok and shattered and splintered with numerous “crack crack crack's.” and how their souls turned to ashes before him. Their screams became the screams of the flames as it overtook them. They were released, but they'd find no heaven. Only nonexistance.

Giles Smiled.
Jacob woke with a start. There was a strange scent in his hotel room. He looked around in the darkness, broken only by the few bars of light from the moon that sone through the blinds. He staggered back to the headboard as he saw the man sitting with his legs casually crossed. He sat in a chair by the door.

“Hello...” the voice said in a slick, soft tone. “Jacob.”
“Giles?”
“You didn't think I was real?”
“No,”
“So, you don't love Sidney then.”
“I love her, that's why I humored her.”
“Now you see nothing is to be humored?” Giles said as he struck a match to light a cigarrette. He held the match to his eyes for a moment. They were black and beady. “I am all too real.” He lit the stick.

“So, what are you going to do now? Tickle me like you did to Sidney and Melisse?”
“No, I'm going to kill you.”
Jacob gulped, and wished he hadn't asked.
“I'm going to let my succubi have you first.”
“What the...”
“Oh, you didn't believe in those either?” Giles smiled. “You probably don't believe in God either. Heh. Well, let me tell you, He's ALL real. Of course, now that you see me, you can of course assume he is. Tsk, tsk, what a cheater you are.” He said it all so teasingly.

“Well, I'm not going to give you what you want.”
“I always get what I want.” Giles smiled, “And you can't give it to me.”
“I wouldn't give it even if I could..”
“A godless louse like you, would have given it up already.”
“You insult me,”
“And you, me.”
“So, I take it you're not Satan.”
“Of course not.” a puff of his cigarette. The smoke showed milky white in the darkness. “And you know this, as well as I.”
“How were you greater than him?”
“Hell was around long before Lucifer, Satan, Iblis, Ahura whatever. And, do not forget, Satan was being sent to be punished.” another drag. “But, he's not real. No one work toward your degradation but yourselves, and no one but God rules over me, and I'm doing just as I was designed.” He rose from his seat and walked over to the window. He parted the blinds as if they were curtains, and it stunned Jacob, because they were not even designed to be opened at all.
“I can imagine a great many unbelievers being so very surprised when their meters cease to tick.” He turned to Jacob, “I believe you have been wanting to confront me, ever since I laid fingertip and nail upon your sweet white dumpling, am I right?”
“What?”
“Oh, come now, don't tell me you aren't the least bit over protective of her. All of your kind are like that.” He stared at Jacob with evident disgust. “Every time a man finds something he values, he becomes over protective of it.”

“I am not over protective of Sidney.”
“So, you say.”
“Prove it then.”
“You will prove it for me. And it will be at the very thought of her, enjoying me. Allowing my fingers to dance about her succulent flesh and tread upon her tender belly and make her howl with pleasure. The kind you, by your very nature, could never make her squeal with.”

Jacob stared at the demon who never looked at him, but looked down from the window to the street below. His eyes were filled passive hatred as they glanced down seeing whatever it was that made its or their way about the road. Tracking it like an eagle quietly tracks a large rat before it leaps from its perch and sails down to grip it in its talons.

“But that is another matter altogether.” Giles snapped his fingers and three women appeared.

They were dressed in tattered white outfits that could have at one time been nurse uniforms. They walked on the floor in only their stockinged feet and leered at Jacob in a mixture of seduction and hatred. He recognized them from the victim profiles. Two caucasian women and one southeast asian. The caucasian women glided over, grabbed his arms and pulled him toward the bed.

“I must tend to your friend Jennaro now.” Giles said as he turned to face the door. He walked right through the shut door.
“Damn it,” Jacob said as he tried to pull away from the women, finding their grips were as tight as iron vices. They smiled as they looked him over. He saw the asian woman put a finger toward his left sole.
“Agh, what the...” He thought only a split second before her finger, soft as a feather, dragged itself up his long sole. “GAAAAHAHAHAA!!” Jacob squealed as the asian worked quickly on both of his feet now. This was tripled with the two women at his upperbody stroking one hand on his belly, and another in his left under arm.
“Gehahaha!!! Why is this happening to me?” He cried. The asian woman placed her lips around his two big toes and carress them in a speedy, revolving slimy embrace of her warm, moist tongue, while she scribbled her fingers all over his soles. “I didn't even use the talking board!”

The dark room was filled with the rustling of covers, the sliding of skin against skin, sweet perfume, and the smells of body fluids being exchanged; sweat, testosterone, estrogen, semen, saliva. The soft giggles of the lovers was the metered beat for which all the soundi n the room would follow.
“Mmmm...” kiss. Jenny's voice.
“Mmmmhmhm...” kiss.
“Baby...” Debbi's voice.
“Yeah?”
“You know most of the group thinks you're giles.”
“Yeah,” kiss.
“But they're wrong.”
“I know.”
“Because I am.”
Silence. The room seemed to stand still in time, and his heart slowed to a few beats as he considered his situation.
“Oh, shit.” a pause. “Can I still fuck you?”
“No baby, Give and take.”
“What do you mean?”
“I've been loyal to you. Now, you need to be loyal to me.” Her voice gave him almost as much pleasure as when she sucked him earlier. “The time for physical pleasures has come and gone. If you work with me, I'll show you mental pleasures even God himself can't resist.” She licked his ear in the dark. He smiled.
“I'm going to Hell aren't I?”
Debbi's eyes glowed in the dark like diamonds, “Truth be told, there never was a Heaven.” she gave him another kiss as the lights in her eyes went out.

Sidney's room was on the other side of the hotel, she lay in the darkness, eyes open, pondering the events of the coming days. That afternoon they were to go into Sundown county and back into the clutches of that devil house, Bohr Mansion, and they'd face a very powerful demon with a curious way of showing its cruelty. But melisse had warned the group earlier, and the nun had confirmed it, what they'd seen of the tickle demon was nothing compared to its power; and it could indeed become very creative.

In her heart, she didn't want to face it. She hated the fact that Giles tormented the group, and her; she hated the fact that he glided about her dreams as fluidly as his fingers would glide about her body, up to summits and peaks of mountains, and down to the canyons and pits of her geography. He was a diabolical pioneer, and part of her loved it, but most of her hated it. She'd have preferred it more readily were it Jacob.

And in a few hours she'd be in the grips of the menace yet again. She hoped that they'd find Lucy though. If the scenario went anything like in the Movies, they'd find her for sure.

But this was real life; and Giles didn't play by the rules of some two-bit script, fresh out of Holly-or Bolly-wood.. She got up to go visit Jacob.

“Such a strong man you are,” one of the women whispered in Jacob's ear as her finger darted to and from across his armpit, twirling in the hairs and scribbling like a secretary along his skin. Igniting flames of neural signals like bonfires, dousing his brain in barrage after barrage of tickle signals.

“Tickle-tickle-tickle-tickle!” The asian woman whispered. As she danced her fingers along Jacob's thighs, causing them to twitch insanely, forcing from his throat, howls that would make even a comedian jealous of his tickler.

“We can't wait for you to return to the mansion, We'll have so much fun with you!”

“Aha, Aha'm gonna kick your bahahaa!!!”
“Oh, you're going to kick our butts?” She said as she slithered forward and lick him from his navel to his nipples, “don't you want to fuck me?”
“Why would I want to do something like thahahat!?”
“Because, no one can resist me.”
“Aha...and whoohooho...who are youhahaha?!”
“I'm Satan,” she whispered.

Sidney knocked on Jcob's door. There was no reply. She knocked again, and heard to her horror, the soft hum of laughter. She began to bang upon the door.
“Jacob!”
Jenny heard Sidney's shrill scream and his head popped up from the covers; Debbi grabbbed his chin and turned him to face her.
“He will not die,”
“But, Sidney,”
“Do not worry abot her.”
“But she's my friend!”
“YOU ARE LOYAL TO ME NOW!” Her eyes grew red and her face was visible in the darkness. She smiled happily, but her voice spoke of anger the likes of which were inhuman. Then she said sweetly, “Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes...”
“Will you secede from loyalty again?”
“No.”
“Good,” she smiled and kissed him, “Becasue I wouldn't want to snatch your dick off. I don't use anaesthetics.”

Sidney banged on the door for a few moments, screaming Jacob's name, then she resolved to kick down the door, and lifting her foot, she slammed her shoe into the portal, just above the knob. Inside, the demons paused, turned their snarling heads toward the door, and saw Sidney step into the room. As soon as she saw the demons, Sidney halted. Herm outh dropped open, and there was an awkward silence.
“What the fuck is this?” She exclaimed. IN response, the red haired demoness lunged toward her, ripping a chair leg away from a nearby seat. Sidney leaned backward as the bar of wood passed just in front of her face. Again it missed as she stepped toward the door. Sidney lost her balance and fell on her bottom, rolled as the bar of wood crashed into the floor where she fell.

“Oh God, what did I step into?” She thought as she scrambled to her feet in time to grab the wrists of her attacker. She raised its arms above its head, and the two of them stared at each other. Then the demon licked Sidney's cheek. Sidney kicked her away, turned to be smacked by the brunette. She spun, dazed, to the floor. She was picked up, and tossed into the window.

Melisse lay in her bed, snoring, just above where all the action was taking place. She felt the thump and woke drowsily. She looked around the dark room and then turned on her light. She gasped. Beside her, Giles Hendersen sat, smiled at her before reaching over, never taking his eyes away from hers, and turned out the light. There was anticipation, fear. Melisse sat in the darkness, never hearing a heave or sigh of the demon's chest, nor smelled his breath.

And then, she felt the slimy feeling of his tongue dart past her lips and draw back out as quickly as it had gone in.

Melisse burst from her room and nearly fell over the railing to the first floor. She would have done so if it weren't for the darkly dressed man who stood outside of the door. He wore a black trench coat and a fedora cap. In his hand he had a pistol, and when Giles emerged from the darkness of the room, it was put to good use.

Giles screamed loud enough to break glass as he held his face. Half of it had been blown off.The inside of his head glowed with churning molten magma. He put his hands forward, and the faces stared angrily before screaming as well.

Another shot brought him down.

Debbi arched her back and howled in agony and tumbled backward onto the floor. Jenny shot out into the hallway.

Jacob had managed to free himself, but was now struggling with the asian demon who had locked her legs about his waist and was now trying to tickle his upper body. The other two demons were kicking Sidney, she rolled and dodged their hits as best as they could, but she was getting heavy damage nonetheless. The sound of a shot gun silenced the whole room. The two demons attacking Sidney fell to the floor, their heads blown completely off. The asian demon looked at the woman who stood in the door, and screamed. She tried to climb out the window, only to find that the window was not able to be opened. The shot that ensued broke a hole in the window.

Jacob made his way over to Sidney and they held each other. They looked up at the woman in the doorway who had been joined by Melisse and the mysterious man.

“Who are you guys?” Sidney asked suddenly.
“We...” The man began.
“These are my cousins!” I called them in case the demon attacked!” Melisse said quickly.
“Ah,” Jacob said broodingly. “So, this is a family affair now?”
“Yup!” She rpelied her eyes darting about in the dark.

 

[Kunzite1]

I just wanted to mention how much I'm enjoying this story. I'm always impressed by your ability to add weight to your stories with touches like the supernatural. This story is truly suspenseful and has an impressive scope to boot. Also, I've always enjoyed turn-of-the-century spiritualism as a subject, and your excellent references really ground this story convincingly in history. I encourage you to keep it up!

And on a lighter note, I have to admit that when I read the opening paragraphs, I could hear Professor Farnsworth from Futurama saying, "Oh my. Did he at least die painlessly? Mmm. To shreds, you say."

 

[Inverse]

How did I miss this? Jees Journia~ what a surprise. <3 You're a living plot twist. *laughs* Awesome and dark, needed to turn on the lights.