I stepped back as the fellow flashed a draconian smile. A short, skinny fraternity fellow poked his head from behind the bouncer.
"Yeah, we didn't invite you, so you can just fuck off."
I smiled at the pair, then took a couple steps back, flared my nostrils, opened my senses, but felt nothing unusual. I turned and returned to the cab, planning another route of access into the house. Suddenly, a scream sliced through the inside of my skull. A blood curdling scream, not heard with my highly sensitive ears, but felt with my entire being, a genuine scream, full of real terror.
A blood-red swath obscured my sight. Then, I was mist, my consciousness following the resonating echo, the smell of blood, the hint of datura. I do not even remember parking in a cab stand two blocks away and hitting the 10-7 button.
I rematerialized in darkness, thumping music pounding like heartbeats above my head. Corridors sliced through sticky darkness, thick with spider webs and dust which choked my nostrils. A door appeared just ahead, the bitter stench of datura hanging thickly in the air.
The door was locked. But by the blisters of Satan, no lock, no barricade, not even all the guardians of Hades would keep me out. With a swift kick, the thick door flew open, revealing the sight of the three fraternity brothers standing in a circle above their prey, none seeming to move or react to the intrusion.
They stood naked before an immense pentagram of blood painted on the mildewed wall, their voices merged in a single chant. Between them, a naked woman lay spread-eagled on the floor, manacles biting into her wrists and ankles, scratches and slices covering her chest, stomach and hips, her blood splattered all over her flesh, all over their bodies. An oversized ceramic phallus stood between her legs, mottled with blood.
This was not Dawn Stevens, just another random victim, glazed eyes staring at the ceiling. Another senseless killing -
- The woman blinked. Pricking my ears, I heard a faint heartbeat. A roar filled the basement room, a roar which came from my mouth, originating deep within my being. Their oblivion finally broken, the fraternity brothers finally turned, shocked at the violation of their sanctity. But only for a moment.
The tall, slender fellow charged. The others followed.
Back arched, hands clenched, flexing razor sharp claws, I growled, standing my ground as they struck, hurling me into a concrete wall, the sound of a half-dozen cracking ribs filling my ears.
With an irritating tingling, the ribs knitted themselves almost instantly. Before their next salvo, I threw myself at the tall, slender fellow.
My momentum flung us against the wall on the other side, the other fellow absorbing most of the impact. Ribs crackled like kindling. He fell stunned to the floor. I turned and faced his two companions.
"Hey, he can't fuck with us," the plump one shouted. "Bobo! You said we have the Gift of the Magi. You said no one can fuck with the Gift of the Magi. You said that."
Bobo responded not, but I did, leaping at the plump one. The scrawny gentleman stood paralyzed, unable to move as his brother got fucked with, as the Americans say, by some interloper who sank a grinning mouth into a jowly neck, jerked his head back and spat out half of a throat, letting the twitching body fall to the floor, blood squirting rhythmically from where the throat had been torn.
The short, scrawny fellow whimpered as he stumbled backward away from me. With relish, I matched each slow step, until something hit me from behind, sending me flying into the prey before me, the two of us crashing into a wall.
Icy droplets struck my neck. Twin pinpricks pressed against my throat. I reached back and blindly slapped at the space behind my head, boxing a pair of ears.
Bobo shrieked. I spun around and slashed his face, ripping off about half of one cheek. He yowled until a backhanded fist sent him spinning to the floor, silent for the moment.
I turned to find the scrawny one shaking his head, seeking to return to awareness. While he slapped weakly at my face and shoulders, I lifted him high in the air, slammed him to the floor next to Bobo, then took a high step and brought a heel down hard upon his neck.
The loud crackling of shattered vertebrae provoked a whimper from Bobo as he snapped back to awareness. Like