Horror / Liliths Coven (unfinished)

Lilith’s Coven

Martin Black

As I began my descent back into the real world, I experienced the most profound felling of loss.
In my dream, Maria and I sat in the shade of a solitary willow tree in the centre of a desolate field.  The sun blazed bright in the pale, blue sky, humid, but not too hot.  All around, in the distance, as far as the eye could see, stood perfect stocks of pure, yellow barley.  Maria, giggling, pulled me to my feet and we ran, hand in hand through the crops like excited children.  Her fine blond hair, almost as yellow as the barley, billowed in the mild breeze.  The feeling of complete happiness, overwhelming, my heart swelled with emotion.  Then, the beauty of my woman, the serenity of the field, the feeling of joy, faded.
        The warm, fuzzy slumber which I had embraced only a few hours before, slowly fizzled away, like static from a non-signal receiving TV channel.  As the sweet, dream state I occupied receded; the waking world came into focus.
        The first thing I noticed, as I tried to lift my hand to rub the sleep from my eyes, was that I was bound around the wrists.  The next thing I noticed was that I was no longer in the trunk of the old ‘Astra’.  The sense of claustrophobia was gone, and the putrid, chemical stench of exhaust emissions no longer choked me.
        I lifted my head; my eyes roaming the room in search of a clue to my whereabouts.  I was lying on the sparse, cold, concrete floor of what appeared to be some sort of basement.  The room was dark, all bar a thin, dusty beam of yellow light seeping through a small window near the ceiling.  A streetlamp, I guessed.  A dank, musty mildew odour permeated the air, mixed with the rancid stench of sweat and urine.  I gagged.  A strangled retching gargle escaped my dry throat and I pushed my chin tight into my chest to stifle the sound.
I was afraid I would alert my captors, and thought I had as a metallic chink emanated from the darkened corner to my right.  I lay motionless for what seemed like an eternal moment.  Tentatively, I raised my head, straining my eyes to peer into the corner.
“Hello?” I ventured.
“Who’s that?  What do you want from me?  Please, just let me go.”  A terrified voice called from the corner.
Realizing the man with whom I was speaking was not my captor after all, I relaxed slightly and swung my knees beneath me in an attempt to stand up.
“Hi, um, I’m David Elmsall.  I’ve been kidnapped.”  I took a careful step forward, closer, into the blackness.
“Do you know where we are?”  He asked.
“No, I was about to ask you the same thing.  I think I’ve only been here a few hours.  It’s hard to tell with all the lights out and all.  What’s your name friend?”
“Doug, God knows how long I’ve been here, almost a week I reckon.”  His voice trembled with emotion, as though he would burst into tears at any moment.  ”They bring me fresh water every day, but I haven’t eaten the whole time I’ve been here.  I think they’re gonna kill us.”  His voice broke.
“Lets just calm down for a second, Doug.  Nothing going to happen to us, we’ll find a way out of this” I said, trying to convince myself as much as I was trying to convince Doug.
“Help me find a door.  I’ll search this side, you take the other side.”
“I can’t David, I can’t move, they chained me to the wall.”
“Christ.”  I muttered.
It seemed that whoever our captors were, they certainly meant business.  Doug was suspended halfway up the wall, bound by two supporting shackles round his wrists, and a further two had been attached to his ankles.  He was naked and the chains were taut, pulling him in four different directions, the effect leaving him open armed and splay legged, like something from a medieval torture scene.
I began my search of an exit by placing my hands, bound behind my back, on the wall and slowly walking the circumference of the room.  My bonds prevented me from using the palms of my hands, but I didn’t have to search long before happening upon a crumbling, rusty door handle.
“Doug” I called, “Found the door, buddy.  It’s locked, but I might be able to break it open, it feels rusty.  I’ll come back with help once I’m out.”
I took a few steps back in order to take a run at it and hopefully, have enough force behind me to shoulder the door open.  I threw my full weight at the door, it didn’t budge.  As I turned to take another shot, the door was violently thrown open, battering the back of my head.  The pain was incredible, and my vision swam as I stumbled and fell.  A resounding crack echoed inside my brain as I was knocked unconscious.

Maria and I lay in the meadow once again, basking in the sun. She turned to face me and tenderly whispered in my ear, “I love you”. I reciprocated, a grin stretching across my face, like a Cheshire cat. I meant it. For the first time in my life, I could say those three little words and actually mean it. The meadow disappeared, the scene faded and morphed into one which I was more familiar with. Lilly’s Café on the high street, where I had first met Maria. We were sat opposite each other, holding hands across the table. Tears welled in my eyes as the memories flooded back. She had just told me that the relationship, which had gone so well for the past two and a half years, was to end. She was moving back to Dublin, alone. I pleaded with her, not caring who overheard in the bustle of the busy café. Her eyes dropped, gazing at the table top, she shook her head. Then, pecking me hurriedly on the forehead, she left the building, my life, but never my heart.

When I came to, I could feel the blood, matting the hair on the back of my head where the door had struck me.  I tried to open my eyes, but they stung with the glare of light and I immediately closed them again until they had a chance to adjust.
I could hear Doug whimpering, were they hurting him?  The bright light faded and was replaced with a softer, dim light and I was able to open my eyes.
For a second, I was unable to comprehend what I was seeing.  The room I was imprisoned in was indeed a basement.  All round the undecorated walls, shackles, like the ones which held Doug, were fixed.  And at evenly spaced intervals, lit candles on tall stands were placed.  Four figures, all clad in black suits, complete with black shirts and ties, stood before Doug.  The one at the front, facing the others, and with her back to Doug, appeared to be wearing a balaclava or hood of some sort.
As they spoke, I realized that they were all female.  The leader, began to speak in a language which I was unable to identify, although, at least phonetically, it sounded like Latin.
I heard a metallic clunk from the direction of the door, and another black figure entered.  She placed a small, wooden box in the centre of the circle the women had now formed.  On closer inspection, I noticed the box appeared to be decorated, with various symbols of which I did not recognize.  The women all in unison, began to chant in the same language which the leader had spoken, paying close attention to the small box they surrounded.
I realized what this was.  It was an occult ritual, were they Satanists?  Was Doug a sacrifice?  I hoped not.
Although there were no open windows in the basement, and the solid, rusted door was firmly closed, the candles began to flicker, as though caught in a mild breeze.  The shadows cast by the five women writhed and danced across the walls.  Suddenly, the monotonous drone of chanting ceased, and the candles extinguished themselves all at once.
I pushed myself back across the room back into the corner I had found myself in initially.
A dull, red light began to glow in at the opposite side of the room, and it took me a moment or two to realize that it emanated from the box.  Slowly, it began to flash, intermittently.  A pulse, which appeared to grow, and the box seemed bigger with each wave.
Again, I heard Doug whimper, followed by the smack of flesh on flesh, as he was silenced.
With rising terror, I watched as an emaciated, long fingered hand appeared from the centre of the box, which was, now big enough to conceal a human body.  I could feel my heart hammering against my ribcage, my mind, scrabbling, trying to come up with a logical explanation of what I was seeing.  I had none.
The hand, stretched further into the air, followed by a long, thin arm, a shoulder, a head of long, black hair, until, a gigantic, and horrifying apparition appeared.
It must’ve stood, eight feet at least, head almost touching the ceiling, and enshrouded in a dull, red, ethereal glow.  It turned one hundred and ninety degrees, to face me.  The creature was female, or closely resembled a woman.  It was completely naked, its skin, scaly, snake like.  Its thin lips pulled back, as though by rigor mortis, revealing sharp, pointed teeth.  Its glowing, green, reptilian eyes fixed directly on me as I tried to push myself further into the corner, almost crying out in terror.  The thing appeared to grin, and then turned its back on me once again, to face its prey, suspended from the wall before it.
All the time, the group of worshipers were chanting, one word, “Lilith, Lilith”.  Over and over again, they repeated their dark mantra.
The daemon tilted its head back, long hair, swinging, almost covering its scaly buttocks, and let out an ear shattering screech.  Doug screamed in terror, quickly changing in pitch to one of pain as the creature thrust its sharp, bony fingers into his stomach.  Doug’s face contorted, every muscle in his body tensed.  Straining against his bonds, he writhed in agony.  I felt the bile rise in my throat and turning, I vomited.
The thing thrust its hand up inside Doug, he stopped screaming, blood poured from his mouth, spattering his chest and onto the floor with a wet slapping sound.  Within seconds, he was dead.
Lilith, almost elbow deep in Doug’s torso, wrenched its hand free, and to my horror, in its hand, was Doug’s heart.  Entrails, hung from the large, gaping wound, swaying slightly as the nerves in Doug’s body jerked in its final death throes.  I didn’t know how much more of this I could take, but with my heart hammering against my ribcage, I forced myself to watch as Lilith tipped her head back, holding the heart aloft, and squeezed.  Dark blood gushed from the organ over the creatures face, cascading down its neck and over its breasts.
The group of women began, once again to chant, showing no remorse for the vile act of murder which had just been committed, nor any fear of the repellant daemon they had summoned.   With its face a dark, crimson mask of Doug’s lifeblood, the creature strode towards its box.  It stepped inside, and, as though descending in an invisible elevator, slowly sunk until only its head could be seen.
Then, as before, the daemon, fixed her pale, green, serpentine eyes on mine.  Tremors of fear wracked my body, and I felt my bowels loosen.  At that moment, I knew I was damned by the infernal wrath of Lilith, I was next.  When, eventually, the rest of the daemon was concealed by the box, it began once again to glow red and pulsate.  It shrunk to its original size and in an instant,  the room was plunged into a murky darkness.