I can recall every sensation, every horror, every blood curdling scream. Most of all, I remember the sharp metallic taste in my mouth and the cracking of my sternum as he plunged the dagger into my chest.
There are some things that truly are unforgettable.
Of course my therapist was quick to say it was all in my head. Why would he believe me? My porcelain skin showed no signs of the events that transpired that fateful night.
But I know. I know all too well what happened that night.
It was the night that I died. A girl doesn’t simply forget that.
His name was Sam. Samuel Hornigold III. He was one of the popular young men at Chester Academy. Not only could his blue eyes pierce your soul, he had this electrifying smile all of the girls swooned for. Pair that with his athleticism as the soccer star on our school’s championship team and you had a deadly combination that most any girl would fall for.
I, of course, was not any girl.
While Sam flexed his muscles and brushed his brown hair back as he leaned into every uniformed underclass girl pressed against the lockers, I was busy in the art room painting my silly little paintings that Ms. McDaniels once called “quite promising.” This is where I preferred to spend my time, away from the crowds and idle gossip. I had very little use for Chester Academy and counted down the days until I was free from that place.
It was my mother who insisted I attend the Academy. She used to tell me I was gifted and she wanted to see those gifts being put to good use with a proper education. Besides, “nothing bad ever happens at Chester Academy,” she always said.
Needless to say, I blended into the shadows in a sea of elitist snobs using their parents’ money to buy their way into whatever Ivy League was hand selected for them at birth, whereas I was one of the scholarship kids who just didn’t quite fit in with the rest.
So you can imagine what a surprise it was when Sam took an interest in me.
Not that I was unattractive, but I wasn’t conventionally beautiful like the rest of the girls with their long blonde hair. My brown hair was always pulled back in a short ponytail and my hazel eyes hidden behind my prescription glasses. We couldn’t afford contact lenses.
It was September 29, a Wednesday, when Sam first strutted over to me in his letterman’s sweater as I retrieved my history book from my locker. His hand pounded against the metal locker as he leaned himself against it. The loud clang was unexpected.
“Sam! You startled me!”
“Oh, sorry about that Abby,” he chuckled and flashed his smile. “That wasn’t my intention.”
“Please call me Abigail,” I reminded him. “I’m really not fond of Abby.”
“Yeah, sure, Abigail,” Sam leaned in closer to me. “My bad.”
I thanked him then closed my locker and fidgeted with the books in my hand. He kept staring at me. I wasn’t used to that much male attention so I averted my gaze.
“Did you come over here for a reason? I need to get to class.”
Sam put his hand on my shoulder and stroked my arm with his thumb. He licked his lips.
“I just wanted to say, you look very pretty today, Abby… I mean… Abigail,” he winked. “I was wondering if you’d like to grab dinner with me tonight after practice?”
“You want me to… to… what?” His proposition took me completely off guard, and I fumbled my response.
“I’d like to take you out…on a date.”
“But I’m not…” my heart fluttered. “I mean, I’m flattered, Sam, truly. But I’m not the sort of girl to…”
“I figured,” he laughed. “You’re different from the rest of them. That’s why I wanted to ask you to dinner.”
The bell buzzed, alerting us that class was about to begin. The look on Sam’s face told me he wanted an answer before I scurried away.
Clutching my books tightly to my chest and brushing past Sam I uttered a simple “okay” with a sigh. Truthfully I was not very enthusiastic about the date, but saying yes would appease my worried mother who feared her seventeen year old daughter wasn’t the normal boy obsessed girl her peers were.
Sam appeared quite gleeful that I had agreed. He clapped his hands together and bit his lip before pointing at me.
“Great! I’ll pick you up at 7!”
I smiled and nodded at him as we parted ways in the sea of teenage angst in plaid skirts and crisp polos.
Our first date was rather lovely that night. As it turned out, Sam was actually a delightful person despite what his persona at the academy suggested. I suspected that he would be looking to add another notch in his belt. Surely I must be the last one in the school he hadn’t conquered. I expected to be his Mount Everest.
As we sat at the candlelit table on the outside patio of a quaint little pizzeria, we laughed about the annoying things our teachers did and discussed our dreams for the future.
“I really want to leave this place,” I confided as I swirled my straw around my glass of water. “I’ve never really felt like I’ve fit in here.”
Sam nodded. “I know what you mean.”
I couldn’t help but shoot him a puzzled glance.
“The school star has a problem with fitting in?” I laughed. “Forgive me if I don’t see it. You just seem so…”
“Confident?”
“Yeah.”
“I guess some of us are just better at hiding it than others,” he winked at me and took a sip of his soda. “We’re all just trying to escape something we can’t seem to shake.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
For him it meant being stuck following in his father’s footsteps at Yale when he has his heart set on Harvard to pursue law. It’s funny. I could never picture Sam as a lawyer.
“You know, for a bookworm you’re awfully bad at judging books by their cover,” he chuckled.
I blushed. I never expected Sam to be as charming and composed as he was that night. Regrettably, I admit I started to grow fond of him. I even experienced my first kiss that night.
“Well, as a bookworm who doesn’t belong here, there haven’t been that many covers for me to judge,” I smirked and cleaned my hands with my napkin.
“I don’t buy that at all,” Sam grinned, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. “I’ve seen how guys look at you at school.”
“You’re just saying that to be polite.”
“No, I’m serious, Abigail.” Sam’s blue eyes became clouded with seriousness. “You should give yourself more credit.”
The next two weeks my head was in a fog. The rapid beating in my chest wouldn’t cease. It grew worse when I’d see him flash a smile my way in the hallway and when he’d pass me notes in class to say he was thinking about me. I couldn’t understand what was coming over me, and it terrified me. How could this boy make me feel so physically sick I can hardly breathe yet at the same time feel as if I am floating in the clouds?
At lunch on Friday, October 15, I watched him sitting at his usual table surrounded by his teammates. They seemed to be having a wonderful time laughing and joking as I sat in my usual corner casually skimming through Paradise Lost before English class. He waved at me and glanced back at his friends. I assume they gave him approval to leave his table to come talk to me.
“Hi beautiful,” he said sweetly as he sat next to me. “Catching up on yesterday’s homework I see? A little last minute for you.”
“Well I’ve been a bit distracted lately,” I blushed. “You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of distracting the future valedictorian and premiere surrealist painter the world has ever seen!” Sam gasped dramatically as I laughed. “Except I would dream of it tonight. That is… if you’re free?”
I pushed my glasses up my nose and closed my book. “You know, I just might have room in my schedule.”
“Then pencil me in for tonight around 6:30. I’m taking you somewhere special.”
“And what is it we will be doing?”
“It’s a surprise,” Sam teased. “But dress somewhat fancy.”
He kissed me on the cheek and went back to his friends, high fiving them as he sat back down. He turned back to me and gave me a wink. Something in my stomach was in knots and I couldn’t finish picking at my lunch. All I knew was that I couldn’t wait for the day to be over so I could see what Sam had in store for us.
Looking back, I wish that day had never ended.
As soon as the school day ended, I rushed home to get ready. I wasn’t given much direction with “dress somewhat fancy.” In my closet, I pulled out my favorite white dress. A bit Bohemian and lacy which isn’t ideal for the autumn chill that had descended upon us. I grabbed a denim jacket to throw on top in case I got cold. I even took my hair out of its ponytail prison and used my mother’s curling iron to create tousled waves.
“You look absolutely breathtaking,” my mother said as she brushed the curls out of my face. “Just absolutely beautiful.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
“I have something for you,” she said excitedly as she pulled something out of her pocket. It was a small case. “I talked to your Daddy and he and I both agreed now that you’re dating we could let you try these.”
Contact lenses.
“Mom, I… I don’t know what to say…”
“Well you know sometimes the boys like a girl who’s…you know… more…” she danced around the words I knew she wanted to say.
“Conventionally attractive?”
“Yes!” She exclaimed before backpedaling. “Not that you’re not a beautiful girl. It’s just that sometimes it doesn’t shine through beyond those thick rimmed glasses.”
“Thank you for this. Really.” I grimaced and walked away into the bathroom. “Suppose I’ll try them out so I can be the conventionally attractive girl everyone wants me to be.”
Mother insisted that’s not what she meant, even years later until her death.
The contacts were uncomfortable at first, but begrudgingly I admit my mother might have been right. I did look better with them. I could wear them at least for tonight since it was a special occasion.
Sam came to the house precisely on time in his white pickup truck and came to the door like a gentleman, even going so far as to chat with my mother before we made our way out of the house.
“I’ve planned something special,” he spoke loudly over his music that blared from his speakers.
“Lead the way,” I laughed and nodded my head to the music.
We drove down winding road after winding road for what seemed like forever before reaching West Bridge Woods, a place notorious for a multitude of nocturnal activities. Mostly teenagers parking their cars far away from the prying eyes of our small town, although I had heard stories of people taking their lives on the old bridge. The talk of the town was that this area is haunted, but I never subscribed to rumors back then.
“Sam, where are you taking me?” The hair on the back of my neck began standing on end.
“There is a place out here I like to come to as the sun goes down. It’s the best place to see the sunset in this whole town,” he didn’t take his eyes off the road. “I promise, Abby, you’ll love it.”
“It’s Abigail.”
The music was so loud I could barely hear him nor could he hear me. He grabbed my hand delicately and kissed it, which reassured me that everything would be alright.
The clunky truck engine sputtered as we came to a stop in a clearing at the base of a hill.
“We’re here,” Sam turned off the truck and put the keys in his pocket. “Stay here for just one second. I’m going to go set up the picnic.”
“Wait,” I called as he excitedly jumped out of the truck. “You planned a picnic for us?”
He grabbed a basket and blanket out of the truck bed and came up to the passenger side window.
“Yep,” he proudly held up the basket. “I’ll be right back. I want everything to be perfect before you see it.”
I smiled at him as he walked through the clearing and trekked up the hill out of sight. With nothing to do but wait for a few minutes I fussed with my dress, brushing out any wrinkles I saw and teased my hair before reapplying some lipstick.
I kept looking for Sam to return to the truck, but curiosity got the better of me. My eyes wandered around the inside of his truck. Surprisingly clean for a boy. He must have cleaned up all the empty sports drinks and sprayed the smell of his sweaty practice clothes away. My fingers traced the outline of the glovebox and it popped open.
Inside there wasn’t much worth noting at first. The user’s manual, some old napkins, and a tire gage. I grabbed the user’s manual to skim through it and heard something clink against the bottom of the compartment. I reached in and pulled it out to examine it. A hunting knife. But this wasn’t a typical hunting knife. This one looked a bit unusual. It was black and had strange carvings along the blade. It didn’t appear to be made of metal.
I looked up to see Sam walking back towards the truck and I quickly put everything back in the glovebox in a hurry before jumping out of the truck.
“I assume this means you’re ready for me?” I blurted out.
“Yeah, everything is ready for us,” he smiled as he reached for my hand. “Let’s go.”
He led me up the hill to the most beautiful view I have ever seen. Down below was our small town with all its lights sparkling in the orange sky. On the dying grass Sam had laid out a large wool blanket and some pillows. He even thought ahead to light kerosene lamps that he placed in the center of the spread of cheeses, fruits, and sandwiches.
“Now I know what you’re thinking,” Sam said as he set me down on the pillow. “But to put you at ease let it be known that I, the man who failed home ec in the eighth grade, did not make this meal. I am a fraud.”
“I am so shocked by this revelation,” I gasped with a giggle. “This looks like the work of Old Buster’s Deli Shop.”
“I have been found out,” Sam clutched his chest as he collapsed next to me. “I figured this would be the safest option. Didn’t want to poison you with salmonella.”
“You’re right. We wouldn’t want a repeat of the eighth grade.”
Sam was right. It was the best spot to view the sunset. The sky turned brilliant shades of red and purple, the light bouncing off the turning leaves on the trees. The world looked on fire around us.
“It’s so beautiful up here.”
Sam put his arm around me and held me close as we gazed out onto the world below us.
“In the fall I like to call this place Puesta del Sol Del Diablo,” he said, whispering in my ear, “The Devil’s Sunset.”
“I can see why you’d call it that.”
As I looked at the sun descending into the mountains, I could feel Sam’s eyes penetrating me. He brushed the hair away from my face and leaned in, pressing his lips against mine.
It’s the only perfect moment I will ever experience in my life.
He continued to kiss me, pressing hard against my lips. I wrapped my fingers around his head and stroked his soft hair. His hands gripped tightly against my waist, pulling me in closer. Our mouths opened and I surrendered to the sensuality. His hands slowly slid down my thighs as he began leaning me into the ground, his fingers gently sliding up my dress and inching closer and closer to my underwear.
I pushed him away. “What are you doing?”
This was all much too fast. It wasn’t something I wanted. I wasn’t ready to surrender myself fully. I wasn’t like the other girls he had been with.
“I’m sorry, Abby, I thought…”
“I can’t do this,” I squirmed onto my feet and began walking towards the truck.
“Abby, wait!” Sam yelled after me.
“I’m sorry. I thought you were ready,” Sam jumped in front of me and placed his hands on my shoulders. He looked deep into my eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pressure you. I thought you had done this before.”
“What would give you that impression?”
“Well… all of the girls I have been with…”
“I’m not those girls, Sam,” I choked back tears. “I don’t want my first time to be in the middle of the woods with someone I’ve only been seeing for two weeks.”
“I…I didn’t realize you were a virgin,” Sam pulled away. “I’m so sorry. I really messed this up didn’t I?”
The discouraged look in his eyes told me that he genuinely felt bad. I reached out to him.
“I should have been more clear,” I rubbed his back. “I do like you and when the time is right I could see myself…us… well… how about we just finish our picnic?”
Sam nodded and apologized again as we returned to the picnic, the air thick with an uncomfortable silence for too many minutes to recount.
With the sun fully beyond our gaze, the full moon began to make its appearance, and we laid down watching the stars. Sam checked his watch and sat up.
“I didn’t realize how late it was getting. We need to head over to the second part of the surprise,” Sam shrieked with a dash of panic in his voice. “Come on, we need to go. They’re waiting for us.”
“Who’s waiting for us?”
“Our friends. I asked for their help in setting something up.”
Sam began packing up the remnants of our picnic so I helped him. I was a bit confused because I didn’t exactly have “friends” at Chester Academy so I didn’t understand what he meant by that statement.
Nevertheless, I went back to the truck with him as he drove us deeper into the woods.
I don’t like the woods. I don’t like how you can feel every little bump in his truck as he drove down that service road. I don’t like how he slammed on the gas and propelled us across the river in the pitch black. It’s already a reckless thing to purposely slam your truck into roaring water, but to do it at night while we’re alone in the dark?
“Sam, I don’t like this, please stop,” I panicked. “Can we turn around. I’m getting scared.”
“It’s okay Abby. We’re almost there,” he revved the truck as it sputtered up the hill, water dripping down the windshield.
“It’s Abigail. Abigail. Abigail.”
That’s all I could bring myself to say. I closed my eyes and clutched the door handle with all my strength, waiting for it to be over. I don’t like the woods. I rocked and hummed to myself to calm down.
“I’d never do anything to hurt you, Abby. You know that, right?” Sam attempted to reassure me.
“I feel like I’m going to be sick.” I could barely breathe.
“It’s okay, Abby. We’re here.”
I opened my eyes and we had made it to another clearing where several other trucks were parked. I recognized them from the school parking lot. My breathing slowed and I felt myself calming down.
Sam wiped the tears from my cheek and whispered softly. “Hey, hey. It’s okay. We’re just going to have a nice bonfire and have some s’mores with a couple friends from school. That’s it. No need to be nervous.”
He walked around to the passenger side door and helped me out of the truck. My legs were shaking so he steadied me.
“Hang on. I need to grab a couple things out of the truck.”
I leaned against the hood of the truck as Sam reached into the glovebox and center console, emerging with flashlights.
“We’re going to need these,” he smiled. “You up for a short walk? Get your sea legs back?”
He wrapped his arm around my waist and pressed against me as we walked closer and closer to the glowing light in the distance. The voices became clearer as we approached. I could recognize Connor and Dalton. A third voice sounded like Brent.
“Who all is here?” I asked.
“Just a few of my teammates. You’ve seen them in class and at lunch,” Sam said nonchalantly.
We darted through the trees until the flickering fire and the silhouettes of Sam’s friends were upon us. I squinted trying to make out their faces.
“Why is everything blurry?”
“Maybe one of your contacts fell out earlier,” Sam shrugged. “Do you have your glasses with you?”
I shook my head. Stupidly, I had left them at home so I would have to suffer through this with blurry vision.
Something didn’t feel right. The air felt so heavy and cold. The “bonfire” seemed rather small.
“Hey you guys finally made it!” Connor shouted.
“Yeah, you’re almost late!” Brent huffed.
“What are they talking about, Sam?”
He ignored me.
“I told you I’d get her here on time,” Sam left my side and gave Brent and Connor high fives.
“Are you sure she’s a…” Dalton’s voice trailed off.
“Oh yeah, for sure,” Sam laughed.
I suddenly didn’t feel safe. I peered through squinted eyes at my surroundings. The bonfire was just a small fire in a dark bowl on a table. My flashlight scanned the ground covered in white spray paint that looked like some sort of graffiti. The boys all had beers in their hands and handed one to Sam.
Sam walked back over to me and offered me a sip.
“Sam, I don’t like this. I…I don’t drink,” I looked around at everyone staring at me. “I’d like for you to take me home.”
“Here, drink this instead.” Connor handed me a black chalice.
“What is this?”
“Relax, Abby. It’s just water,” Connor scoffed. “We knew you might not be able to hang so we planned ahead.”
What happened next… I wish I could erase from my memory.
I regret drinking the sour liquid that was in that glass. It burned my throat and I did my best to cough it all up as they all laughed at me. That’s all I can remember before I collapsed.
When I woke up I was laying on something hard and cold. My hands and feet were bound in thick rope as I laid there spread across what I later learned was a table used in certain rituals.
My head was so foggy and it hurt so bad. I called out for Sam as I yanked my arms in a desperate attempt to dislodge them. The ropes burned my skin with every move.
“Sam, what’s going on?” I cried.
He looked at me coldly as he brushed the hair off of my forehead.
“I’m so sorry, Abby, but it had to be you.”
“What are you talking about? Sam! Let me go! Please!”
“Someone please gag her. She’s being too loud,” Dalton huffed.
Sam pulled a tie out of his pocket. “I’m sorry Abby,” he said as he forced that tie into my mouth as I let out muffled screams, writhing with everything I had to no avail.
“You just don’t understand, Abby,” Connor chimed in. “We’ve been waiting for this night for so long. We’ve just had an impossible time finding a virgin.”
My eyes widened and my heart pounded. I shook my head and tried again to get myself free.
Sam pulled out the knife I had seen in his truck just a few hours earlier. The blade shimmered in the moonlight.
“You’re a sweet girl, Abby. Really, you are. And it’s unfortunate that this has to happen.”
“What has to happen?” my voice was muffled from the restraint.
“You see, Abby. We need you for a very important ritual that has been years in the making.”
Dalton walked over to an altar next to me and placed a large book in the center and gently thumbed through the pages.
“I found it. The summoning spell,” he said.
I don’t know how many times I yelled out “No!” How many times I shouted “Let me go!” Begging and pleading for them to untie me.. I just remember Sam shushing me, trying to calm me as he brushed my cheek with one hand and clutched that dagger with the other.
“Sometimes you just have to make sacrifices for the greater good, Abby,” Brent laughed.
“Yeah like winning the championship game so we can all get the hell out of this town,” Connor added as he high fived the others.
My life. For a fucking soccer championship?
“Don’t you see, Abby? This is the only way we’ll make it out of this town and live the lives we want!” Sam shouted. “He will bring us everything we’ve ever wanted!”
I thought… I thought he wanted me.
I kicked and screamed with all I could muster before Sam rolled his eyes and slapped me.
“You need to shut up now, Abby. It’s time,” he growled. “Hurry up and read the incantation guys.”
The others read something in Latin. I couldn’t tell you what was said. I was too busy feeling my heart burst from panic and my lungs collapse with no air as Sam stood over me, both hands on his precious dagger suspended above my chest.
No one ever tells you what dying feels like. I guess because they never come back to tell you what they experienced. I felt the weight of Sam’s knee on my stomach holding me in place as he aimed the dagger at my heart, waiting for the cue from his friends to plunge it into me.
As soon as the chanting stopped, the boys grabbed my arms and feet to further stop my struggling. Sam’s blue eyes flashed like ice in the cold autumn night as he stabbed through my ribcage. The cracking of bones is a sound one doesn’t forget. Nor is the feeling of cold obsidian slicing through your heart, tearing away at your flesh as it’s ripped out of you.
Julius Caesar was stabbed by his Senators 37 times. I lost count after 37.
In those moments as I felt my hot blood pouring out onto my skin and filling my throat until I was choking, all I could think about was how my beautiful white dress was now ruined. There would be no fixing it with all this blood.
Eventually my eyes dried up and everything went dark. Silent.
I shouldn’t have come back.
Something brought me back.
When I came to, the sun was beginning to rise. I coughed and gasped for air, shooting straight up on that table and immediately vomiting. The ropes around my wrists and ankles had been burned away though their marks still remained. I wiped my mouth and examined my wrists.
“Oh good, the princess is finally awake!”
The voice calling to me was unfamiliar, one I had never heard before. A young man dressed in all black approached, tossing an apple around in his hand before taking a bite.
“Who… who are you?”
I tried standing up from the table, but I felt so weak.
“Careful, love. After the journey you’ve just had, you should probably just sit for a while,” he soothed.
I sat on the table and ran my hands across my body feeling for the gashes from the blade, but there were none. I knew it had to have been real because my dress was still drenched in my blood.
“How am I…”
“Alive?”
I nodded.
“Well that’s a very complicated process to explain,” the man said, gesturing with his hands that looked more like black claws. “First there’s the matter of finding your soul in Hell and then transporting said soul through various levels of red tape and paperwork until eventually breaching through to earth and returning it to your body. That’s the simplified version anyway.”
“I was… dead?”
“And now you’re not, so… you’re welcome,” the man smiled, his red eyes flickering with a sinister charm.
I attempted to get down from the table again as the man got closer to me and I ran behind it to put distance between us. The man sauntered nearer, shook his head and smiled.
“Princess, after what just happened to you… I’m not the one you should be afraid of,” he chuckled. “I did just save you from certain eternal damnation after all.”
For the first time I looked around the clearing. The altar was busted. The white sigils were gone, the ground burned away. The trees were singed and charred. It was as if a bomb had been dropped.
“Where are they?”
“Oh, those boys who killed you to summon me?” The man smiled and bit into his apple. “I took care of them.”
“What does that mean?”
The man gestured over his shoulder. I looked in that direction and let out a loud scream. Dalton, Connor, Brent, Sam… all dismembered. Disfigured. Their bodies flayed. Their organs spilling out onto the ground being picked on by flies and maggots.
I made a dash to get past the man but in the blink of an eye he seemed to manifest in front of me.
“Please don’t run, Princess,” he said as his black claws gripped into my arms. “We need to talk.”
“You killed them!”
“Well…” the man frowned and shrugged. “Technically.”
“Technically!”
“I mean they did kill you first. I thought you might like to hear why I brought you back.”
I pulled away from the man and collapsed on the charred earth, crying and weak. I shouldn’t be here. The world spun wildly.
“The name’s Vassago,” he outstretched his hand. “And you are?”
“Abigail.” I whispered.
“I’m delighted to meet you Abigail.” Vassago shook my hand. “I’m sensing you’re a smart girl despite the whole decision to go into the woods with a strange boy thing. I mean, that can happen to anyone, right? And you’re young so we can give you a bit of a pass on that.”
I stared blankly as the man in the black velvet blazer and leather boots continued monologuing.
“Anyway, I’m getting off course,” Vassago redirected. “I’m sure you’ve pieced together by now that I am, in fact, a demon.”
His lips curled into a proud smile and he unfurled his arms in the air as if he were about to take a bow on the stage.
I was speechless.
“It’s okay, love. Take a moment to take this all in.”
“What do you want with me?” My voice quivered as I brought myself to my feet. “Why bring me back?”
“Ah yes, excellent questions!” Vassago’s eyes lit up. “I am what you might call… a recruiter. Purely by the numbers, trading your soul for theirs was a much better deal. Not that your soul wasn’t a fantastic edition.”
“I don’t under…”
“You see, I need fighters. Boots on the ground so to speak. People die. They go to Hell. We turn them into demons,” Vassago explained. “So when you think about it, one virgin soul when I could have four degenerate assholes? You do the math.”
He staggered over to the bodies of the four boys and kicked at Sam’s body to roll him over. He bent down and searched for something.
“Ah yes, here it is.” He held the dagger in the air. I flinched. “My baby! I’ve missed you.”
My body stiffened as he walked back towards me, gleefully tossing the dagger in the air.
“Relax, Princess. I’m not going to hurt you. I can’t.” He tucked the dagger into his jacket pocket. “You’re immortal. Or did I forget to mention that?”
“W…what? I…”
“Yeah, I sort of gave you that whole immortal youth thing as a bonus. Felt bad enough you died without getting laid,” Vassago grinned and went into a dramatic bow. “Once again, you’re welcome.”
“What am I supposed to do with immortality?” I seethed.
“It’s simple really,” Vassago examined his claws. “I need your help recruiting new members for team Hell. Are you interested?”
“Do I really have a choice?”
“Of course, love. Everyone has a choice,” Vassago scoffed. “You can choose to work with me or I can take you back to Hell.”
“What exactly would you have me do?” My heart pounded and I wanted to run.
“You wouldn’t have to do much, Abigail. Can I call you Abby?”
“No. My name is Abigail.”
“Fair enough,” Vassago assured. “Listen, Abigail, things aren’t how they used to be. It was so much easier to recruit back in the day when everyone wanted a quick fix to their problems with a little black magic and virgin sacrifice. Unfortunately the past 2000 years we’ve seen a bit of a slowdown on that… and well my superiors are demanding higher numbers or my ass is on the line.”
“But Sam…and…”
“Ah yes, four dumb boys who just happened to find the book I planted. The first group with enough balls to even attempt to summon me in over a hundred years,” Vassago rolled his eyes. “We aren’t exactly batting a thousand here, darling.”
I stood shaking in the foggy forest, shivering and frightened without the faintest idea what to say.
“You see, Abigail, my superiors tell me they’re gearing up for something. Something big,” Vassago’s eyes went black for a moment before returning to the red hue they were before. He smiled. “But don’t worry. You will be protected. What is to come won’t be for quite some time. Plus your immortality prevents my side or the opposition from harming even one hair on that pretty little head of yours.”
I walked past Vassago and over to Sam’s body. His blue eyes were glassy and his skin pale. When I looked at him all I could feel was hate. The memories of the night before flooded my brain and I fell to my knees.
“Can you make the memories go away? Please,” I cried.
“Indeed I can,” Vassago chirped. “But I won’t. I need you to have them. Fuel that fire in you for what I need.”
“I can’t live with this in my head.”
“Try therapy, love,” Vassago sighed. “I need you to remember why you’re doing this. Maybe we can see how you do for a bit then we can work something out.”
“What would you have me do?” I back at him with tearful eyes.
“I don’t care how you choose to do it. I don’t care how you pick them. All I need from you is for you to bring them to me,” Vassago walked up behind me and helped me on my feet. “I’ll take care of the messy part. You just need to invite them to the party and tell Daddy when the guests have arrived.”
“You’re going to kill them,” I tried to pull away from him. He was too strong to resist. “I’m not a murderer.”
“Of course not, love,” Vassago condescended as he rubbed my arms. “But you are a young woman with a fire in her and a thirst for revenge. I could feel it in your soul when I brought you back.”
I stood there silently contemplating my options. The flashbacks from that night bring all the pain back to life as if I’m reliving it. I can feel this burning inside from the scars that won’t go away. Vassago was right. I do want revenge.
Sam lured me, convinced me I was special. I began to trust him and he betrayed me so callously. No one should have to endure that. Not if I can do something about it.
“So, Princess, what do you say?” Vassago grinned. “Have we got a deal?”
“Yes.” I shook his hand, and I felt my new life begin. He snapped his fingers and my dress was restored to its former glory.
“Excellent. We can’t have you waltzing out of here covered in blood.”
“But what about the bodies?”
Vassago looked back at the pile of corpses, raised his eyebrow, and shrugged. “Bear attack?”
When I blinked, Vassago was gone and I was in my bedroom. I wasn’t even sure what I had just experienced was even real. Is it possible to imagine something so vivid? With every breath I can feel the faint cracking of my bones and wonder if I’m imagining a pain that never was.
It has been 28 years since that night, and my face hasn’t aged. I can’t count how many men I’ve brought to Vassago now. How many I’ve watched him torture and break. All of them deserving of it, of course. I’m not a monster, after all. I ask for a basic level of respect that anyone should be able to abide by, however, I have developed a sort of code that I follow. One needs rules to follow when you’ve recruited as long as I have.
And it all starts with my name. One simple rule: don’t call me Abby.