The Nightmare Game (76 page)

“I felt I couldn’t wait that long, for while I was
able to observe, I was unable to do anything to help Rochere’s victims. Young
and impetuous, I decided to go it alone, the most foolhardy decision of my
entire life. People were dying and I had to make those killings stop. I had no
idea of how powerful she truly was. I had no idea that I was playing such a
dangerous game, but feeling protected by my walking stick’s headpiece, I grew
bolder. One night I grew too bold and it was to cost me my freedom for almost
two centuries. If only I’d been just a little more patient, waited for
Christopher’s arrival with the second relic, things would have turned out so
much differently. It was my own impatience that led not only to my ordeal but
the ordeals of too many others as well. Including you, Ashley. I learned too
late that if I had only waited just a little bit longer, she could have been so
easily destroyed. Too much of this was my own fault.”

“Now, man, you couldn’t possibly have known,”
Julian protested.

“True, but Julian, I should have behaved more
prudently. I acted so unwisely. That was my downfall. You see, one night as I
stood in the shadows outside of her house, Arrosha left as she so often did to
feed. I found out later, after she imprisoned me, that she did not need to feed
that often, she merely did it because she enjoyed it so much. But that night
was different. She took a young man with her that night, the man with whom she
kept company, the man she told everyone was her brother. Jean was a fellow with
a very odd constitution, sometimes quite robust, while other times frail in the
extreme. His frailty came upon him gradually, while his robustness always
appeared quite suddenly. That night I found out why. He seemed quite sickly
that night, very gaunt, very weak. I had never seen him look that ill before.
The two of them walked to an alley in the Quarter that was much darker and more
isolated than was her wont. The area was so incredibly secluded that they had
to wait a few hours for anyone to pass by. Shrouded by the darkness of the
alley, I heard her companion whimper that the wait was too long, that he could
go no further, that he needed to eat. She told him to be patient, that it
hadn’t been that long, that she could feel that someone would be by soon. She
called him ‘my love’. As I observed them together; she held him, put his head
upon her shoulder, frequently kissed his face and stroked his hair, almost as
if he were her favorite pet, but certainly not her brother. I’d always found it
strange that I could see her so easily, even in the darkest settings. Nothing
else could I see better than could any other person, only her; often the places
she chose were pitch black and I could not see even my hand before my face. But
I could always see her, as if a light of unknown origin were trained upon her
constantly, but, as usual, she could never easily see me, and as long as I
remained quiet, I remained safe.

“That night, though, my danger of being discovered
was greater, for her companion was with her, and I could elude him no easier
than I could any other person. Jean’s presence that night was to be different
in another way, as well, although I had no idea of just how different, nor
horrible, it would turn out to be. After a while, a drunken couple passed by, but
she did not bother them. She preferred men traveling alone. I’d only ever seen
her prey upon men, but, as I later found out, that while she preferred them,
she would occasionally feed upon women as well, especially any woman who would
challenge her, be it for status or the attentions of a man upon whom she had
set her sights. Eventually, as we waited, a man walked by, extremely
inebriated, whereupon she, abandoning her companion, stepped up to him alone to
begin her, I assumed, by now familiar seduction.

“Once she had gained his interest, however, what
occurred next was anything but familiar to me. I gazed in horror and disbelief
as she grew in height, her body changing into some ghastly abomination, into a
many-tentacled monstrosity that pulled the poor man, suddenly sobered by fear,
into itself, the abomination that you yourself saw, Ashley. No cries came from
the poor man, even though I could see his hands and feet flailing wildly. I
cupped my hand over my mouth to keep from making a sound, lest I be discovered.
She finished with him soon and he dropped to the ground. I thought for certain
that he was, in fact, dead, for he looked like nothing more than a decaying
corpse. Rochere then returned to the likeness of a woman, the appearance she
showed the world, and walked over to her companion, revealing a ball of light
she now held in her hand. He leaned over and sucked the light out of her palm,
much the same as a dog might take a treat from its owner. Tilting his head
back, a look of sheer pleasure came upon his face and I saw him change before
my very eyes. No longer did he look sickly or drawn. Instead, in a matter of
seconds, his flesh filled out, his skin became rosy and young, his eyes
sparkled brightly. He stood up straight, embraced Rochere and kissed her
passionately.

“‘Thank you, my Queen,’ he said to her after the
kiss.

“No sooner had this transpired than my attention
was once again diverted to the man on the ground that I thought was surely
dead. He began to moan, in a manner more frightening than pitiful, ‘help me’,
over and over again. His desiccated body struggled to sit up, then
lethargically shuffled to rise, succeeding clumsily to its feet. It was a
gruesome sight, Julian, as Ashley can attest. It began to lumber toward Rochere
and her friend, at which point she seemed enormously annoyed, this time turning
only her right hand into a long, thick tentacle. She flung this tentacle out at
the poor man, immediately severing his head from his shoulders. His body fell
to the floor while his head rolled, not stopping until it reached my feet.

“This time, I could no longer restrain myself and
against my will I let out cry that could not be contained and could be heard
even through my hand, still clasped tightly against my mouth. I tried to leave
immediately, moving away as quietly as I could, but it was already too late.

“‘Get him!’ I heard her scream and I now ran as
Rochere’s companion was on my heels. Jean, now so newly revived and
rejuvenated, overtook me too easily and held me down. Rochere moved closer, but
stayed at the distance she always remained whenever I had the cane in my
possession.

“‘So, it’s you, Edmond,’ she said to me, for she
could now see me. ‘I can’t say that I’m surprised Your attitudes toward me were
enough to make me distrustful of you. Besides, you’re the only one who could
spy on me without my knowing it. I would have picked up on anyone else
immediately and killed them for their efforts.’

“‘And why is that?’ I asked her, fully knowing the
reason.

“‘Because of that cane of yours, or rather its
headpiece,’ she answered. ‘I’m surprised to see it again. Why, I presumed that
it had been destroyed centuries ago or at least lost beneath the earth so
deeply that no one would ever find it.’

“‘Now that you can see me, what are you going to
do? Kill me like you killed that poor man?’

“‘So you enjoyed my little show?’

“‘Enjoyed? It was evil, it was vile!’ I said.
‘What kind of monster are you?

“‘Monster? How dare you, you snide, arrogant
little man!’ she told me, ‘I’m not a monster, I am a goddess! You should kneel
to me and worship me!’

“‘Take care, woman. You blaspheme!’

“‘Oh, no, my dear. I speak the truth, as you’ll
soon discover.

“‘Do you want me to take it from him, my Queen?,’
her eager companion asked.

“‘Yes’ she ordered. ‘Take it from him so that I
may rid myself of this interfering mental pigmy.’

“Jean ran over to grab the cane from my hand but
it was too late. It had merged with my hand and become one with it.

“‘I can’t take it, my Queen,’ he said. ‘It’s
mingled with his flesh.’

“At this, no sooner had she said that she would
remove my hand than the headpiece sprouted tentacle-like shoots, running them
throughout my entire body.

“‘So,’ she said, resigning herself to the fact
that she would not be able to separate us, ‘It seems that he must keep it. At
least now, I’ll always know it is in his possession. I know who my enemy is and
I will make sure I always know where he is from this point onward.

“‘As for killing you, let’s just say, my dear
Edmond, that you won’t get that lucky. You’ll wish I had killed you; you’ll
soon be begging for me to kill you, but I won’t. At least not until I have what
I want.’

“‘And what is that?’

“‘The headpiece of that cane needs another in
order to function fully. They are a set. Where is its mate? If you found one,
you found the other; I know because they are not easily separated.’

“‘I don’t know what you mean.’

“‘Oh, yes you do,’ she said, looking me in the
eyes. Even from a distance, I could feel her stare bore into me. ‘And you will
tell me.’

“‘I won’t tell you anything.’

“‘You’ll tell me everything. By your eyes, I can
tell already that the second amulet has been found and you know where it is.
You will tell me, Edmond; you have no choice. Jean, don’t let him get away and
follow me.’

“I was taken to Ursuline Street, and made to face
a brick wall. A door appeared from nowhere and her lover, who seemed as
surprised as I was, forced me inside, into an open, empty room. We walked
across the room to the opposite wall, in which a second door magically appeared.
She walked though it first and gave Jean instructions to keep following as we
wound our way down a long, metallic hallway until we reached a room filled with
machines of some kind. In the middle of the room was a large coffin-like
object, which turned out to be a stasis chamber. Jean forced me inside the
chamber and closed its door behind me. Frantically, I searched for a handle, a
lever, a knob, anything that I could pull or turn to release me from this tiny
enclosure, but found none. I banged upon the glass door of the chamber,
demanding, pleading to be released, but she, standing across the room, simply
smiled mercilessly and touched the bracelet she always wore. I felt a pull upon
my body, as if a gigantic magnet were forcing me back upon the slanted back
wall of the chamber. My eyes were forced closed as my body froze, cane in hand.
I tried with all my might to move, but I was now paralyzed, having lost all
feeling and all ability to move. My mind was screaming in panic, I felt I might
go mad, trapped as I was in this chamber of complete, absolute silence. While
the silence must have lasted only a few minutes, it seemed forever and I could
do nothing but hear my mind scream to be released. Thankfully, I eventually
heard Rochere’s voice, a voice I never would have imagined I would be happy to
hear, but in my state I was desperate for any of my senses to respond. I did
not hear her through my ears, but rather through my mind. She said that there
was something she would like me to see and suddenly, I could see again,
although it was not through my natural eyes, for the viewpoint changed
according to her whim. The scene that followed was dizzying, for the
perspective in which she allowed, or rather forced, me to witness the events
that followed, shifted, from her perspective to his; sometimes it was as if I
were floating mid-air above them. I saw her walk up to Jean and stroke his
hair. I saw the sadness in her eyes as she told him that he could not be with
her anymore, for he now knew this place existed and no one could know that.’

“‘But I love you, my Queen, you cannot toss me
out. And I know you still love me.’

“‘I do, my sweet,’ she said, softly stroking his
cheek. ‘I love you dearly, as much as I’ve ever loved anyone. It is so sad that
you know of my true home now. I will always keep you close to me, that I
promise, but you must not be allowed to exist in the outside world ever again.
I must imprison you also. I must mostly kill you.’

“‘No!’ he began to scream. ‘I’ll never tell
anyone.’

“‘With a second amulet out there already
rediscovered, my love, I can’t take that chance,’ she said.

“‘Let me go home, my Queen. Please. I won’t come
back. You can trust my promise because I won’t come in here, I’ll never tell
anyone. It would do no good, anyway, because the doors won’t even appear for
them.’

“‘They will appear for whomever carries the
talisman’s brother, the second amulet, so no one must know where to look. I’m
sorry I must get rid of you, Jean, but I love you dearly, so I will make your
death fast and sweet. Don’t worry, my love, I adore you too much to kill you
completely and I will keep you with me always.’

“She embraced her struggling lover so tightly he
could not escape, clamped her mouth against his and began to draw his life from
him as I had seen her do with so many others. But instead of leaving him
terminally ill and able to walk away, when she released him, his seemingly
lifeless body dropped to the floor, only the weak fluttering of his eyelids
revealing any life at all. The sight which was not my own now saw him float
upon the ground as she lead him into a room with artwork of all kinds. She
stopped in front of an empty canvas and allowed Jean’s body to lower to the
floor.

“‘Oh, my sweet Jean, my faithful companion all
these long years, how I will miss you. But worry not, for I’ll come to visit
you from time to time. Let me see, now. Whose work should you be? Michelangelo?
No, I prefer his sculptures and I really don’t need another sculpture right
now. You’re so beautiful you should be a Botticelli. No, I know! You were made
to be a Raphael. Yes, my love, it is a Raphael that you shall be!’

“She had no sooner said these words than Jean’s
body flattened out and began to merge with the canvas, which was now no longer
blank but began to fill in as Jean’s body sank more and more into it, becoming
a beautiful portrait of himself against an idyllic Italian Renaissance
background. He was still alive, barely, trapped now in a static, immovable,
two-dimensional prison, a fabulous painting whose beauty was marred only by the
screaming evident in his eyes.