HELLS GRACE


    Part 13


    Chris screamed first before a wide splatter of his blood caked the left side of his face.


    That’s new. More and more, I’m growing as a dungeon, feeling and experiencing new things and literally tasting fear almost sent a shockwave through my brain. And then there’s another feeling.


    A fulfilled dungeon is a happy dungeon. Isn’t that what Elvis said? Feed the core with suffering, and the System becomes reliable to my whims.


    How old am I now? Three days old? What would fear taste like when I am eighteen, the same age as my former human self? I could feel the knife tearing through Chris’s flesh, but instead of screaming maddeningly at the pain (as Chris was doing), it was like eating a good movie theater butter popcorn or drinking a damn good milkshake. It’s like sitting at the beach in the summer with a great book in hand, feeling the warm water and sand wrapped around my ankles as the tides reeled back into the sea—a happy day.


    good day.


    Chris was not part of the cult, I thought. He was not a criminal like Leo and his goons. In the System’s eyes, he was deemed an innocent (and not a target of Elvis and the Elders). His pain and suffering shook my domain. It’s the same pleasure I experienced during Maxine’s murder spree in Green Hill, only a hundred-fold stronger and much more potent. The innocents who died there fed me right up until sundown. I still had the aftertaste of the old man who shed off two essences when he died. He had been the best meal I had since. There was also Eddie, and he came a close second.


    Would Chris shed two essences for me?


    It''s too soon for that. He had other purposes, one that involved a cop and her lover, and the despair she would experience would be glorious.


    What would Rebecca do if she found her husband was missing an arm? That should break her Resolve. Humans have great empathy for the people they love or the ones they consider important to them. Though she was cheating with another man, she still thought of Chris as someone important in her life. If her Resolve doesn’t break from this, I will have a tougher job getting rid of her. She had better training with weapons than the other surviving cultists.


    not Danny behind that door. It was something else.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen,” Maxine began to sing softly as if singing to a baby. “Feel the beat from the tambourine…” In her cradled arms was Chris’s dismembered limb. Zack and Eliza noticed it right away.


    possession. No normal person would do such a vile thing unless Maxine were experiencing some psychotic break, but she didn''t know the woman that well. Eliza’s eyes flicked around the room as if searching for a demonic face leering over her; goosebumps traveled up her arms to the nape of her neck.


    Daaadddyyy!” The boy screeched. “Help! Daddy! Help! El! Help me!”


    The boy definitely had it in him, I thought. Even I was convinced that Danny was in danger, though I suspected a little bit of the System exerted some influence to make it look believable. Perception was everything. If not, Danny Bird would make for a great Hollywood child star if he would get over the traumatic events tonight, seeing as he would not remember ninety-five percent of it.


    <hr>


    Daddy!” It was faint, but he heard it.


    A damn great actor, I thought again.


    To escape a predator, elevation is safety, I thought.


    A job well done, it probably wanted to say. Danny gave me a thumbs up, having the time of his life.


    Practical effects and a dash of magic can create a concoction of deadly perception.