Wrath James White presents Poisoning Eros I & II (31 page)

Gloria had long ago ceased to care. She had done all
she ever could or would for her child, and now it was time to cut
the apron strings. “Good-bye, Angela.”

Gloria turned and continued to walk, following the
corridor, now surer than ever that she was headed in the right
direction. When she looked over at Vlad, the smile had left his
face.

The Masters’ corridor came into view abruptly. One
minute they were stumbling along in darkness and the next they were
in the huge, brightly-lit antechamber, standing before those
magnificent, beautiful demon-gods.

“Welcome home, Gloria.” Mephisto stared at Gloria,
unfazed as thousands of humans flooded the antechamber carrying
swords and tusks and clubs and axes, prepared for war.

“You know why I’m here, Mephisto.”

“You’re here because I summoned you. You’re here
because I made you into the glorious creature you are and sent you
back to earth to bring more souls to hell, and you have done your
job beyond anyone’s wildest expectations. Anyone’s but mine. You
have done precisely as I knew you would. You are here because I
wanted you here.”

Gloria felt a twinge of doubt. She looked around at
the thousands of humans crowding the chamber and the hundreds more
still pouring in, the millions more she knew were clogging the
tunnels for miles in every direction, and she regained her
confidence, her composure. With them behind her she was
unstoppable.

“It’s over, Mephisto. There are no more Masters in
hell. Not after today. I want Satan. Take us to him.”

They all laughed. All of them, except for Gloria and
the humans that now surrounded them waiting for Gloria’s command.
Beside her, even Vlad was laughing. Mephisto looked at her like she
was some lost imbecile who somehow did not get an obvious joke.

“I told you before, there is no such being. At least
there wasn’t … until now.” Mephisto knelt before her, prostrating
himself at her feet. All the other Masters followed suit.

“Satan!” they all cried as one by one they bowed to
her.

“What? No!”

As Mephisto had said, she had fulfilled her role
perfectly.

One of the Masters, the one with the rows of breasts
that went from beneath his collarbone down to the nest of penises
seething between his long girlish thighs, rose and crossed the
room. The humans parted to let him pass. He disappeared among them
for a moment, and then reemerged carrying a crown of horns, massive
black ram’s horns that curled in a great semi-spiral. He handed the
crown to Mephisto, who rose and placed it on Gloria’s head.

“You are now the ruler of hell.”

“Hail, Gloria!” the crowd roared.

“Just like that?” Gloria said to Mephisto. “No
fight? No protest?”

Mephisto shrugged. “As I said, there is nothing that
I did not foresee. Nothing that I did not plan. We made you what
you are. We made you for a purpose… and
this
is it!”

“Hail Satan!” the crowd echoed.

But Gloria wasn’t finished. She had promised them
more. She had promised her followers that there would be no more
division between heaven and hell. No more judgment. No more good
and evil. No more punishment. She had to finish it. Perhaps this is
what the Masters had created her for? Why she had been put through
so much. Perhaps this was her destiny? To end the rule of gods,
devils, angels, and demons over mankind.

Gloria thought about it for only a moment before
deciding her next move. “We’re going into the tunnel. To
heaven.”

“For what?” Mephisto asked. His smile was unnerving.
It was the same smile he had worn when she had called out Satan, as
if he was humoring a confused and ignorant child.

“To take it over. To remove him from his
thrown.”

“And which
him
are you referring to?”

Gloria was growing impatient. “God!”

“Ahhhh. God. How can you be sure he’ll be there? And
Gloria … how do you know he even exists?”

Gloria faltered, confused, uncertain. “How do I
know? Be-because of all of this! How can there be a hell if there’s
no heaven? Besides, I’ve seen it. I’ve seen the tunnel. I’ve seen
the angels above the Lake of Fire catching humans and taking them
to heaven.”

“And what does all of that prove?”

“That God exists! That heaven is real!”

“It proves nothing. What indication has this God you
are looking for ever given you that he is capable of creating
anything perfect? What indication has he ever given you that he is
capable of creating a paradise? Because he created Earth? Hell?
What?”

“But there has to be. The tunnel?”

“It goes somewhere, a place they call heaven, but
it’s not what you think it is. It’s no paradise, and there’s no
Jesus waiting for you. Just more dead souls and more of us.” He
broadly waved his muscular arms, indicating the rest of the
masters. “Only in more … comely manifestations.”

“The angels?”

Mephisto smiled.

“Bullshit! You’re lying! There is a God. There has
to be.”

“There may be. But if so, just like on earth, he
chooses not to show himself.”

“You’re a demon, a devil, a deceiver. Why should I
trust anything you say?”

“Why should I lie to you now? You’ve won. You’re the
ruler of all you survey. You are Satan.”

“No!” Gloria ripped the crown from her head and
tossed it to the ground. She pushed her way out of the chamber,
shoving humans and demons alike as she ran back through the tunnels
toward the one that led out of hell.

The souls of the damned were packed so densely into
the tunnels that Gloria was swimming through them, blind, unable to
see inches in front of her, groping and pushing her way through the
endless waves of humanity, fighting against the tide. Hours passed
before she reached a part of the tunnel where the crowds had
thinned. Gloria picked up her pace, heading in what she hoped was
the direction of the tunnel. She had to find it, had to prove
Mephisto wrong.

She passed dismembered demons, just pieces here and
there, chunks of flesh still living and breathing and pulsating,
still writhing in agony on the cave floor. As she ran farther, she
passed Madria/Angela’s decapitated torso. Some of the humans were
having their way with her remains. A slick sheen of semen covered
her breasts, and globs of it leaked from her vagina. They cast
hungry looks at Gloria and for a moment she feared she would be
attacked as well, before some other humans nearby recognized her
and bowed to her. Gloria could only imagine what they had done with
Angela’s head, what they were likely still doing with it somewhere.
She wasn’t sure the humans were any better than the demons had
been. Now the lunatics were running the asylum.

Gloria struggled her way back to the huge chamber
and the entrance to the tunnel. Some brave souls had already
charged the tunnel and were making their way toward heaven. Gloria
followed them.

She didn’t remember the tunnel being quite so long,
but now that she was desperate to get to heaven it seemed as if it
was twice the distance it had been before.

Finally, Gloria emerged into that soft white light
and followed it to the field where she had seen her mother. Her
mother was there again and so were all the other damned souls who’d
made the journey with her and their loved ones. Gloria stormed past
them all. She could hear her mother calling to her as she ran
across the field. Angels came from nowhere to try to stop her and
soon she was running full speed, slashing angels open with her
claws as they tried to stop her. The skies turned black with angels
hurtling through the air in pursuit of her.

Gloria ran harder, faster, head down, demanding
every ounce of speed and endurance her demonic body was capable of.
She ran until the field ended and she came to a vast city. Gloria
kept running deeper into the city.

When she finally came to a stop, her demon body
spent, unable to give her anymore, Gloria finally looked around and
began to scream. “It can’t be. No. It can’t be. No. No.
Nooooo
!”

The angels grabbed her, pulling her away, back
across the fields, back to the tunnels. But it was too late. She
had seen it. Homeless people crowding the sidewalks, drug dealers
and addicts doing their transactions on the streets, police
officers patrolling in cars—and prostitutes, prostitutes working
the corners. It was exactly the same as Earth.

There was no paradise.

“Where is
God
?” Gloria demanded of the angels
who still bore her aloft, flying her back across through the
tunnel, back to hell. It made no sense at all. Everything she’d
been through, all the pain, all the struggle. What did it all mean?
What was the point?

“Where is he?” Gloria cried as she struggled in
their grasp. “Where’s God? Where is he? Where’s God!”

If they knew, they never said a word.

Wrath James
White
is a former
world class heavyweight kickboxer, a professional kickboxing and
mixed martial arts trainer, distance runner, performance artist,
and former street brawler, who is now known for creating some of
the most disturbing works of fiction in print.

Wrath is
the author of
The
Resurrectionist, Succulent Prey, Yaccub’s
Curse, Sacrifice,
and
Pure Hate
. He is also the author of
Voracious
,
To the
Death, Skinzz, The Reaper, Like Porno for Psychos, Everyone Dies
Famous in a Small Town, The Book of a Thousand Sins, His
Pain,
and
Population Zero
. He is the coauthor of
Teratologist
with the king of extreme horror, Edward
Lee;
Orgy Of
Souls
with Maurice
Broaddus; The
Killings
and
Hero
with J.
F. Gonzalez; and
Poisoning Eros
I and II with Monica J. O’Rourke.

Wrath lives and works in
Austin, Texas, with his two daughters Isis and Nala, his son,
Sultan, and his wife, Christie.

Monica J. O’Rourke
has published more than
seventy-five short stories in magazines such as
Postscripts,
Nasty Piece of Work, Fangoria, Flesh & Blood, Nemonymous,
and
Brutarian
and anthologies such as
Horror for Good
(for charity)
,
The Mammoth Book of the Kama Sutra
,
and
The Best of Horrorfind.
She is the author of
Suffer
the Flesh
, the collection
Experiments in Human Nature,
and
Poisoning Eros I and II,
written with Wrath James White.
Her new novel
What Happens in the Darkness
will be released
later this year from Sinister Grin Press. She works as a freelance
editor, proofreader, and book coach. Her website is an ongoing and
seemingly endless work in progress, so find her in the meantime at
www.facebook.com/MonicaJORourke.

Novels
:

Suffer the Flesh
(2002, Prime Books)

Poisoning Eros
, with Wrath James White (2003, 3F Publications)

Short Stories:

“An Experiment in Human
Nature
” --
Horrorfind.com
{2001}; Splatterpunk
(German site) {2001}

“Asha
”
--
Red Scream
{2006}

“Attainable
Beauty
” –
Gothic.net
{2002}
“
Awakening, The
”
–
The Edge, Tales of Suspense
{1999}

“Babes in the
Woods
” –
Twilight
Showcase
{2001}

“Carrion on Canyon
Way
” –
HorrorFind
{2001)

“Common Courtesy
” –
Gathering Darkness
{2001}

“Despair
”
–
The Gallows
(Horror Author’s site) {2001}

“Exposed
”
–
Terror Tales Online
{2000}

“Eye Contact
” –
Redsine
{2002}

“Feeding Desire
,” with Jack Fisher –
Ruthie’s
Club
{2004}

“Fire God, The
” –
MediaPlus Magazine
{2001}

“Five Adjectives about My Dad, by
Nadine Specter
” –
Full Circle Journal
{2002}

“Flesh is Willing,
The
” –
Nasty
Piece of Work
{1999}

“Goodnight
” –
Writer Online; Dark Muse
{2000}

“Huntin’ Season
” –
Nemonymous
{2005}

“Lachesis
”
–
Inhuman
magazine {Forthcoming 2006)

“Lucky
”
–
69 Flavors of Paranoia
{1999}

“Maternal
Instinct
” –
Nasty
Piece of Work
{1999};
Sinister Element
{2001}

“Moving to
Poplar
” –
Dark
Planet
{2001}