Necromance Page 14

  “Stay down if you know what’s good for you,” she said and slammed my head against the ground for good measure.

  At least two more sisters were on my body, pinning me to the ground so I couldn’t move. I struggled to break free but I knew it was no use.

  A kick to the midsection got my squirming to stop and I gasped for air as one of these bitches dropped a knee into my back.

  I felt like I’d had a rib or three broken.

  “Stay down,” Chassi said again but I could see there was no anger in her face. Only a sadness, which was confusing.

  No time to dwell again, as another round of attacks started and I tried to block all the kicks and punches as they bruised and battered my body.

  I was yanked off my feet by the hair by two sisters, my face bloody.

  There was no way I was giving up. Not yet.

  Two punches, even though not at full strength, knocked Krysti and Chassi off of me.

  I swept my leg and smiled as Kari and Kayli both went down.

  Carli was the only one left, but as I spun, throwing wild punches, I saw she’d taken a few steps back and gotten into a fighting stance.

  “Let’s do this. Just you and me,” I said. “Then I’ll take care of our father.”

  Carli laughed. “I don’t think so. One thing our father always taught us was to fight dirty. Make sure the odds were always in our favor, too. I’m not sure if I can kick your ass if we go head to head so I’m not going to try. I’m going to do what we Thorne women do best and get the odds in our favor.”

  Krysti wrapped an arm around my neck from behind. The bitches had recovered.

  I easily tossed her over my shoulder and drove her to the ground, her back slapping on the floor.

  But the move left me exposed, which is what she’d probably sacrificed herself for. Kari punched the back of my knee as she dropped to the ground and my knees buckled. Chassi clothes lined me with an arm and I fell over onto my ass, Kari in my way as I fell over her prone body.

  My sisters were working together, like a pro wrestling tag team going through their finishing move to win the match.

  I was in trouble.

  As soon as I lifted my head off the ground, Kayli dropped a knee into my midsection.

  I wished they’d stop doing that. It really hurt.

  One of them punched me in the face, right in the left eye, and I saw spots.

  And blood.

  “Seriously. Stay down,” Chassi said.

  I was going to but now she’d challenged me. What was I supposed to do? I had no choice but to keep fighting until they killed me.

  The irony, of course, was we could do this dance all day with the vast training we’d been given from our father.

  Our father, who was only a few feet away from me but I was unable to get to.

  If I knew back in the hotel room what I knew now, I would’ve made my play to kill him or died trying.

  “Trust me. Stay down,” Chassi said and whispered something I won’t repeat just yet.

  She punched me in the face as hard as she could and I felt two teeth ripped from my gums.

  The fucking bitch had sucker punched me.

  I struggled to get free but they were all on me now, five sisters, each holding onto my limbs with my twin (fittingly, I guess) gripping my head in her arms, trying to rip my neck off.

  Once I was down and subdued and the fight had left me, I felt like crying.

  It was also when my coward father decided to get closer to the action.

  “We can do this one of two ways, Cheri. You can yield and join us or we will leave no trace of you once we’re done. You have until the count of three to decide,” he said.

  I could see him clearly through the one good eye that my sister hadn’t destroyed.

  “Fuck you, old man,” I said.

  I could feel the grips tightening.

  He held up three fingers and smiled.

  “I count three fingers. Oh, and fuck you.”

  “Two,” father said dramatically and dropped a finger. He’d missed his calling because he could’ve been an amazing bad guy in the movies, if he’d wanted to.

  “What rhymes with two? Oh, yeah… fuck you,” I said.

  My sisters were holding me down tightly. I tried to move again but they weren’t giving me an inch. I didn’t blame them because, if I ever got free again, I was going to kick their collective asses.

  Krysti whispered something to Chassi but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I was sure they had a signal to pull away so when father shot a fireball at me they wouldn’t get hit.

  Not that it would matter because I knew they were going to die right after I did.

  Bunch of idiots.

  “One. Last chance,” father said and now he only held up one finger. Guess which one. The man at least still had a sense of humor, even if it was dark.

  “One more fuck you for the road,” I said.

  I tried to push my sister’s away in one last-ditch effort to save myself.

  They let me.

  Huh?

  I overcompensated because I thought there would be resistance.

  They all held on but loosely, letting me rise to my feet.

  “Use the power Hell has given you,” Krysti whispered in my ear. “We’re all with you. The only way to defeat father is for all of us to channel through you.”

  “Fuck it,” I said and imagined a giant fireball of my own creation to toss at the bastard.

  Nothing happened.

  Father smiled. “Did you really think you could all turn on me? I’ll spare you the details of my plan but it involved you all dead at the end anyway. I was going to kill you quickly, once Cheri was disposed of. Now I shall torture you for eternity.”

  “Do something,” Kari said. “They promised they’d give you power and we’d need to help you kill him.”

  I smiled. My sisters had all made deals with the Devil as well. Interesting. I wondered if they’d gotten a better one than I’d gotten, which involved me burning for the next million years.

  “No matter what happens, we’re supposed to hold onto Cheri,” Chassi said.

  They all held onto me tighter, which made it impossible to move my arms or legs and my head was at a weird angle thanks to my twin.

  I could still see our father and he looked pissed and about to conjure something really bad.

  Like two of the ugliest demonic beings I had ever seen.

  They were bloated, with an extra set of eyes in their bulbous heads. They were only about five foot tall but just as wide, and they reeked like a hooker who hadn’t washed her privates in a month.

  “Fuck this,” I mumbled. Now I was pissed. Who gives someone the power to destroy the biggest evil motherfucker in the world and doesn’t give some direction?

  I closed my eyes and imagined these two monsters gone. Maybe blown to gelatinous pieces and scattered on the ground.

  Nothing. I knew it didn’t work because my sister’s didn’t shout out as flying slime coated us.

  “You forgot the one thing I always taught you, Cheri,” my father said and was suddenly standing in front of me. He was smiling and I remembered the training as a child and knew I was about to get smacked across a room for not using my full power against my twin in a battle or for not doing the moves he’d beaten into us.

  “Believe in myself,” I said and laughed. Was it that simple?

  My father raised his arms and my sisters began to scream in agony around me, their bodies beginning to pull away from me.

  I willed them to stay attached to my body, drawing their strength and power to mine.

  They’d all be ripped apart in seconds but it was the price they’d have to pay. The only conclusion for all the wrongs they’d done over the years.

  My sisters knew the finality. I knew it. My father knew it but he wanted to be the one to destroy them.

  “Fuck off, father. It’s my turn,” I said and drained all five sisters at once, forming a fireball wher
e our bodies had stood.

  I was pure fucking energy and I was pissed.

  My father’s eyes filled with something I’d never seen on his face before.

  Fear.

  I laughed through fiery lips and enveloped the man who’d created me, who’d trained me to be a killing machine, who’d tried to bend me to his will.

  As my sister’s flesh, blood and bones sluiced off my flaming remains I joined with our father, who flapped his arms feebly and was consumed.

  Then with a resounding explosion it was over and I finally died like I knew would always happen.

  I was free of my family’s curse. I was sated; I’d completed a lifelong journey and stopped an evil so vile it would’ve taken over the world.

  Somewhere, in a New Jersey diner, an unsuspecting drunk bastard was sitting down to bite into a delicious pork roll, egg and cheese sandwich, oblivious his world had nearly ended.

  Now I was ended. Right?

  Necromance:

  After Forever

  I died. Remember? Exploded like a water balloon tossed off a skyscraper. There was nothing left of my human body.

  You with me so far?

  One second I was splat and the next I was back in my own body; although, it really wasn’t my body. It’s really hard to explain.

  I became a ghost. There, does that work for ya? I roamed the mountains and valleys of Hell because there was nothing else to do. Remember when I thought I was going to burn in fire for the rest of my days? Not quite.

  They left me alone. I have no idea how much time passed. They really don’t keep tabs like that down here.

  One moment I was wandering down a red dirt path, with a red sky overhead and small fires all around me. The weather and elements didn’t affect me because I was a ghost.

  Then… I was back in a room with a couple of couches and a bottle of wine.

  And given my body back, as well as an assignment back in the real world.

  No torture for me. No fire. No screaming like the damned.

  I was going to be a good little worker, doing the bidding of the Devil himself.

  I was now a Vamp, only I got to use my own body, or what they’d been able to replicate. I noticed they’d decided on chunkier me instead of the killer me I’d become in the end. Bastards.

  This was much better than burning in Hell. Lemme tell ya.

  I was in Bakersfield and waiting for The Itch to tell me where to go.

  Yep, you guessed it: I had all of my old powers back. It was like I’d never died. The only difference now was I worked for a definite boss, and he didn’t take any shit.

  Plus, after each mark was stamped out, I had to return to the abyss for an undisclosed amount of time. Time which had no real meaning to me.

  I checked the date on a newspaper but it was weird, since it was definitely from the past. Several years before I’d killed my father, actually. I thought time only went one way but I guess when you control Hell and Fiends and all that shit you can do whatever the fuck you want.

  My one regret was not having my red Charger to drive. I had no idea how long I’d be allowed back and The Itch was strong enough to pull me along so it was no use stopping and smelling the flowers.

  I’d heard rumors my sisters were still alive and doing the Devil’s work as well.

  Ha. Even in fucking Hell there was a bunch of gossipping assholes. Nothing changed no matter where you went. I supposed right now a group of angels were leaning against the pearly gates of Heaven talking trash about one of the other angels because they were bored.

  I was in Bakersfield in a small cafe at the end of a street where only the people who didn’t want to be found ventured to.

  The coffee was brutally bad and so was the uncooked burger, which I suspected wasn’t actual meat you should find between two buns. I could eat and drink but it really didn’t do anything for me except give the illusion I was just like a normal person.

  The irony, of course, was I was never a normal person.

  I wanted to order a piece of apple pie, even though it didn’t look all that appetizing. The really cool thing about eating and drinking was it didn’t do anything to my figure.

  No one around me was who I was looking for. I didn’t know if they were standing in the parking lot or across town or across the country.

  I went where The Itch told me to go, and I was in no hurry to get there. The longer I didn’t get to the mark the longer I got to live life again. Be a normal person.

  A woman walked by outside and every nerve ending buzzed, my fingers twitching. It was a pleasant feeling; one I’d had dozens of times in my life.

  Every time something conjured or tied to my father was near, I felt it. Had the incredible urge to kill it a hundred different ways.

  Unfortunately, now things had changed.

  My father was dead.

  I’d seen him recently, his burning body a plaything for my new Master and for all to see. A not very subtle warning to anyone who tried to grab more power than they deserved.

  I’d spit on his corpse a few times, especially when he was conscious. I was there but he was unable to speak except to plead with his eyes for mercy.

  It wasn’t up to me to grant it and, even if I could, I’m not sure I’d let the fucker off the hook.

  One of the bonuses of being Down Below was spending quality time with my father and letting him know what a horrible parent he’d been.

  I had to go. The woman wasn’t coming inside. She was getting into a car and I needed to stop her from leaving.

  If I did this correctly, it would be on the news as a simply robbery. Maybe a carjacking gone bad. It didn’t really matter.

  What mattered was I had to snuff out her life and send her to Heaven.

  Yeah… she was headed upstairs.

  I’d switched sides.

  As part of the deal I’d made, I was now on the hunt for the good people. The ones who made this a better world. Those who wanted to spread the word for the other team and make everything seem great and positive.

  It was my job to spread some darkness.

  I kept telling myself over and over I didn’t have a choice. There was no way to fight this. Just do your job and get rewarded with another few stolen hours on the planet before I had to go back to wandering red, fiery planes and fighting off lesser denizens who’d never be able to do what I was allowed to do.

  All I had to do was slow down those who were now doing the job I used to do.

  Don’t judge me. You’d do it, too, if given the same choice.

  I sighed and approached the car just as she unlocked it.

  AUTHOR NOTE

  Necromance. Finally in the version I intended it.

  A few years ago a publisher who’d I’d been working with came to me with an offer. He was putting together a series of horror erotica short stories for 99 cents. Did I have anything?

  As everyone who’s a writer knows, you always say yes and worry about it after the fact.

  Luckily, I did have a story. I’d written Necromance: Bad Omen as an erotic short story for the Rymfire Erotica release. I always knew it would be part of a bigger story at some point in my future.

  Since given this chance by the publisher I jumped on it, beginning what would end up being ten interconnecting stories and a prologue.

  As happens all too often, the publisher suddenly flaked out and stopped paying me for my work. He shafted me and many others and it left a bad taste in my mouth.

  Necromance was dead after about half of the stories released.

  In truth, I’d never been completely happy with the gratuitous sex in the stories. In fact, on more than one occasion, I had to go back and rewrite a story because I’d forgotten to add in the bump and grind.

  The original vision for Cheri Rose Thorne’s story was a paranormal horror story, where she’s fighting demons and monsters. Sure, she was hot and sexy and a tough chick, but it wasn’t all about the sex.

  I began rewriting it, one story at
a time, on my Patreon page. If the loyal readers there liked it I would continue the story.

  They seemed to love it so I kept going, finishing the story and focusing on the plot and characters and not on the sex.

  I think it worked.

  What you have been kind enough to read is the story I’ve always wanted to write.

  I want to thank everyone who subscribed (or will subscribe) to my Patreon account, where you can find this serialized story as well as many other exclusive tales before anyone else gets to read them.

  If you see Cheri out there, stalking Vamps and Fiends, give her a wide berth. That hot redhead is dangerous…

  Armand Rosamilia

  September 6th 2017

  Armand Rosamilia is a New Jersey boy currently living in sunny Florida, where he writes when he's not sleeping. He's happily married to a woman who helps his career and is supportive, which is all he ever wanted in life...

  He's written over 150 stories that are currently available, including horror, zombies, contemporary fiction, thrillers and more. His goal is to write a good story and not worry about genre labels.

  He runs two very successful podcasts on Project Entertainment Network, too...

  Arm Cast: Dead Sexy Horror Podcast - interviewing fellow authors as well as filmmakers, musicians, etc.

  The Mando Method Podcast with co-host Chuck Buda – two authors trying to figure out the publishing landscape

  He also loves to talk in third person... because he's really that cool.

  Check out his Patreon page for more cool stuff

  https://www.patreon.com/ArmandRosamilia