Dark Places of the Soul: Dark Soul Trilogy - Book 1 (13 page)

“
What is it that you want
of me?” It asked in a voice once belonging to her father’s
friend.

“
To be like the other,”
Stephanie answered in a trance.

“
The other?”

“
The
prostitute.”

“
You seek the vile ways of
another,” the stolen voice of Lonnie Wilkerson deepened, “but your
sins are not based in reality. They are nothing more than
simplistic fantasies; thoughts filling your mind while your fingers
probe your moist vagina. I need sin, which has already manifested
itself in this world. The prostitute has such sin.”

Stephanie began to sob without control.
“Don’t do… this… to me,” she pleaded.

Evil raised a right hand laced with torn
flesh to Stephanie’s face. She stood, enraptured by a trance of
sinful desire, beckoned by a force from within. “Tell them who you
are… demon.” Stephanie’s fingers unfastened the top two buttons at
the front of the dress. “Demon I command you to give voice to your
identity.”

“
I am she,” Stephanie said
with a voice that wasn’t her own, “I am the prostitute… the
whore.”

“
Are you not also Pride…
Greed and Apathy?”

“
Yes,” the demon called
forth through Stephanie spoke, “but I yearn for the carnal desires
of the one who has given her flesh for a price.”

Stephanie’s fingers complete the task of
unbuttoning the front of her dress. The garment fell to the floor,
leaving her white bra and panties exposed to those who wished to
gaze into the young woman’s fantasy.

Lonnie Wilkerson’s eyes turned from the
underwear clad brunette to the others in the room. “I do not desire
the sin of a whore. I seek more, pride… greed and apathy, then I
will absorb the sexual pleasure of one who has prostituted
herself.”

Stephanie began weeping again.

“
There is one sin of the
many that I have permitted this one to feel. She longs to immerse
herself in that sinfulness, to be baptized with the seed of a lover
who has purchased her flesh.”

***

The decaying flesh covering a dead hand
reached out for Stephanie’s throat. She stood frozen in the
breathless grip, unable to yield to the choking grasp around her
neck.

James tried to stand, but the muscles in his
body offered no stability. He watched the withering hand lift
Stephanie off the ground by her neck. One shoe fell from her foot
as she struggled to gain a breath.

“
Let her go,” James
Lansing found a semblance of his voice.

“
Apathy speaks.” Lonnie’s
form turned quickly, keeping a firm grip on Stephanie’s throat. “I
so long to hear from the others.”

James tried to rise again and this time his
legs supported him. He braced himself against the wall. Candice and
Keri were helping each other to their feet.

A flesh-decaying arm tossed the limp body of
its victim onto the floor as if the girl were weightless. Stephanie
coughed, announcing to the world that she was still among the
living.

“
I did not wish to kill
her. If I had I would own her flesh now. I have not based this on
your desire to speak up for her, Apathy. Everything I do is
ordained… by me.”

Abner wasn’t moving. James, choosing to
ignore the boasting essence of evil, looked toward Noah Cote who
sat beside the old man. “Is he?” The schoolteacher asked the
minister.

“
Still breathing… barely,”
came a worn and exhausted response from the reverend.

“
Even the old man lives
because I wish it so.”

Stephanie pushed back against the nearest
wall, attempting to cover herself with her arms. James met her gaze
and knew she had been freed from the mental and physical grip of
evil.

“
Speak to me… Greed, I the
darkest of all souls demand that you speak.” Lonnie’s body twirled
toward Noah, seeming to forget James for the moment. A long finger
pointed condemnation. “Minister of the Christ, tell me your
greatest sin. Keep it from me and I will pry it from your
soul.”

“
This is nothing but a
game to you,” James shouted. His arms held onto Keri, who moved
close, seeking protection where there was none.

“
Isn’t that sweet, such
displays of affection, first for fellow man and then for your
cherished.” It turned back to Noah, rage shifting across its facial
features. “Now tell me about your greatest sin, enlighten the one
who commands you.”

***

Tears streaked down Noah’s face. Abner
shifted beside him, moving an arm free, offering comfort to the
trembling hand of the minister.

“
She is dead because of
me,” Noah said between sobs.

“
Murdered… because of your
actions,” Lonnie’s voice persisted.

“
I had no way of
knowing…”

“
You condemned her because
of her sin. You judged her. What right do you have to pass
judgment?”

“
None.”

“
Then seek forgiveness of
the Christ you preach.”

Noah knelt, obtaining the position through
obvious pain. “Forgive me Lord,” he prayed, “forgive this servant
who has carried the weight of this transgression for too long.
Because of my greed father death has gained a stronghold.” He
prostrated himself on the concrete floor.

“
Such a disgusting
display,” Lonnie’s voice cackled. “Who’s next… Pride… Apathy or
you?” A finger without flesh pointed toward Keri, one long, slender
bone of accusation, “Stephanie was given one sin to wallow in. She
is not a child of greed or pride… and apathy sickens her, but deep
inside she has fantasies… sexual dreams, which make her wild with
lust. Fulfill my curiosity… Blondie, and share with us your
sins.

“
Leave her alone,” James
spoke above the increasing volume of Noah’s prayers.

“
Ahhh, Apathy you call out
for your turn. You are so right, Blondie’s transgressions are so
much more interesting, let’s save them until last… shall we. Share
with us your unfeeling attitude toward those students who cry out
for compassion.”

“
I had no idea… she would
take her life,” James said in a low voice meant for no one else to
hear.

“
But she did… and she told
you she had made suicide a consideration. Did she not?”

James fell silent. Keri’s face burrowed
against his chest.

“
Answer me,” Lonnie’s
voice shouted with a volume the room couldn’t possibly contain.
Keri cupped her hands over her ears and fell to her knees. The
others cowered to the floor, trembling with the walls. “Convince me
of your innocence and I might allow you a chance to seek
forgiveness like Greed.”

“
I am not innocent,” James
said as he stood to face the accuser, “and I grieve for her loss
and know that it was possible for me to have prevented her from
taking her life.” James looked toward Candice to one side, kneeling
by a frightened Keri, and to the other side where the tear streaked
face of the minister looked back. “She came to me after class and
shared her depression. So many her age fall into the same
struggles… I didn’t know. She needed to be held… she said so… to
feel a sense of warmth, separate from a cruel world. I could have
made her feel… but the repercussions.”

“
And deep down… you had a
physical attraction for the girl, didn’t you? You were afraid of
your own weaknesses… your own inability to stay clear of a
teacher-student love in.” It laughed, and the evil resonance
vibrated off the walls.

“
Seek forgiveness,” Noah
Cote whispered from his public confessional, “God will forgive you,
and it will not be able gain strength from your separation from the
Almighty.” Noah gripped the unmoving leg of the unconscious old man
on the floor beside him. “Abner understood all along… we need only
act in a right manner.”

James knelt as tears began to well in his
eyes. Keri embraced him from behind as a spasm escaped his
body.

“
You males are so putrid
and weak. No inner strength like that of Lonnie Wilkerson. It
doesn’t matter though… I’m seriously thinking about letting my
feminine side come out from the closet.” It moved forward. Flesh
from the left side of its face pealed. Long boney fingers pulled
the shreds away, exposing dead muscle and white bone.

“
You Pride… will I take
you or will you crumble and make me turn my attentions to the other
whore?”

Candice rose to her feet, back to the
wall.

“
Pride… you are without
talent… you are pathetic, convinced that you are what you could
never be. You use and abuse… for your own gain. How many have you
sworn undying love for… only to sleep your way to fame?”

“
Go to hell,” Candice
screamed.

“
I’ve been there… it’s not
a bad place… really… much nicer than this dump.”

“
Candice,” Noah called
out, moving toward her, “do not deny it your sin.”

The expression the actress offered the
minister made the entity in Lonnie’s body howl with joy. “She has
more or less told you to ‘fuck off’,” it bellowed. “Now go ahead
Candice Goddard tell this decaying chunk of flesh how great an
actress you really are.”

***

Noah felt Abner touch his arm as he went to
move away. The old man’s chest barely rose with each intake of air.
From inside his coat the old man brought forth the broken crucifix,
the one Abner had busted into two sacrilegious pieces back in the
hotel room. He offered it to the minister, sliding the wooden icon
across the floor.

In Noah’s church the wall of the sanctuary
displayed an empty cross, one without the beaten body of their
savior. He had told Catholic friends that his congregation had
moved beyond the crucifixion and embraced the salvation the
resurrection offered. He lifted the broken relic of a recent
assembly line quota from the floor. On the back were printed the
words ‘Made in China’, so much for Christianity, a Hindu probably
labored over the carving. The body of Christ dismembered at the
knees, the wood splintered and jagged, a weapon Abner had claimed
use of once before. Noah would seek an opportunity to witness the
work of this Chinese made Jesus on the cross.

The minister listened as the decaying
monstrosity taunted Candice. Her denial bit deep into the fabric of
their scheme; tearing apart the foundation they laid.

“
Tell me Pride,” the dark
soul shouted, “what role have you ever had that you didn’t screw
your way into? You are a pathetic whore… Pride, giving what little
you possess for nothing but fame.”

“
No,” Candice screamed,
“you’re wrong… you don’t know… you couldn’t know.”

Noah reached her side as tears of
frustration began to fill her eyes. Had they been tears of remorse
Noah would have been relieved.

“
Do not give it what it
needs,” Noah whispered, hoping to keep his voice from the
decomposing ears.

“
What do you know?”
Candice shouted back with overwhelming anger.

“
What do you know about
anything, Noah Cote?” The voice of Lonnie Wilkerson sang into the
room. “I already own her. You are too late, my man of God. Too late
to save Pride from what she deserves… to late to save Pride from
feeding my hunger.”

For a moment Keri thought her time to be
placed on trial had been forgotten by the thing that knew all evil.
She held onto James for her own sense of security while he
recovered from the onslaught of his unleashed emotion.

“
It’s alright,” she
whispered with soothing tenderness against the back of his neck.
Her lips feathered against his fine neck hairs. In a moment when
her life was most threatened she found peace in physical contact
with last night’s lover.

“
I never touched her… I
kept my distance,” he offered, still looking down at the floor
where his knees rested.

“
I believe you.” She spoke
with sincere honesty.

“
It’s right though… I had
feelings… I never would have acted on them, but still they were
there… interfering with my responsibilities to her as a teacher… an
adult.”

The hollered voices of Noah Cote and
Candice, the verbal blasts of the dead entity infected her ears
like a foreign language, Satan’s tongue, an unholy dialect spoken
in the realms of hell.

James stood, strengthened by her embrace and
she found herself standing with him. They moved away from
confrontation, taking inventory of their comrades. Stephanie was
against the wall, wavering like an autumn leave, broken and
withered. She no longer cared to shield her lack of clothing from
the others in the room. She had found her dress and held the
garment like a used rag at her side. Abner lay frozen on the bare
concrete floor, a slight rhythm of breath rising from his
chest.

Lonnie Wilkerson’s voice shouted something
about its hunger. Suddenly Keri understood the verbal condemnations
of the beast. It turned to face her and distance did nothing to
offer protection.

“
I tremble with excitement
in your presence blondie,” Lonnie’s voice taunted. “If this body
wasn’t a decayed piece of meat I’d drag you in the corner and fill
your womb with my warm seed.”

Keri tried to bury herself within her
lover’s embrace. Her action enticed a burst of laughter from the
decayed form in the room’s center.