Into the Darkness

“Well, what have we here?” The stranger hissed into her ear. She could feel him inhaling her scent as he held her in his strong grasp.

Suddenly the lights flickered on and she could see that the man holding her wasn’t the only one in the cellar. A tall, thin man stood before her. His nose was flat against his face and looked like it had been broken several times.

“Pretty little thief isn’t she, Flatnose?” The man holding her breathed into her hair.

“Basta, come on, lets get her upstairs. I’m sure Capricorn won’t mind you playing your games with her up there instead” The flat-faced man said.

The man with the knife, Basta, dragged Lisa up the rough stone steps into the village square. She tried to kick him in the shins but he pushed her to the floor and grabbed her hair. She felt her scalp tearing as he pulled her kicking and writhing across the square towards the old stone church she and Shelly had seen earlier. Shelly, thought Lisa, Oh God I hope she’s ok. She was trying to fight the rising panic as she struggled against the man pulling her, trying not to utter a sound, she didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of knowing she was scared.

He yanked Lisa to her feet in front of Church and the other man opened the door pushing her ahead of them. She stopped and tried to push back past the men but Basta grabbed her arm and pulled her into the doorway. She was screaming at him and kicking and trying to hit him with her free hand but he just laughed. The more she struggled the more he seemed to enjoy it but she finally managed to aim a kick right between his legs and the smile faded from his lips. He grasped her leg before she had made contact with his body and he pushed her against the wall.

“Keep on like that sweetheart and I’ll slit you open from navel to nose” He growled menacingly pressing the blade into her breast.

Lisa swallowed her fear and panic and allowed Basta to push her through the entranceway into the main building. It was unlike any Church Lisa had ever seen. The walls were all covered in red so it gave the impression of being swallowed into the belly of some huge beast. As she was pushed up the aisle she was looking wildly around for Shelly and could feel her relief as she realised that she wasn’t standing at the front.

There was, however, a man, pale as moonlight, standing at the front by the altar. As she was pushed in front of him her relief gave way to the deepest fear she had ever felt for there on the floor in front of the man was Shelly.  Shelly tried feebly to stir when she heard the sounds of people approaching. She had barely raised her head when Lisa had flung herself down next to her and was trying to stem the bleeding from the wound on Shelly’s head.

“They cut me” She gasped out and tried to grab her friend.

Before any other words could be spoken between the two Lisa was pulled away from her and thrown to the floor in front of the pale man.

“Well, two thieves, how very interesting” His words were barely a whisper and yet Lisa couldn’t help but to listen to him. “Perhaps I should tell you who I am and then I will show you why you made a very grave mistake in coming into my village”  The tension in the church seemed to peak and Lisa knew that like her the others in the Church were listening to every word that the man had said.

“I am Capricorn, and you will regret thinking that you could come in here to rob me”

“Please.” Lisa whispered, her voice felt hoarse from the strain she was feeling. “Please, let my friend go, she’s got nothing to do with this. You’ve already hurt her and scared me. We won’t come back”

Capricorn’s soft laugh filled the Church from the crypt to the highest point in the vaulted ceiling. “Let you go? No, I don’t think so. We may have use for a thief like you. I don’t think we need two though, do we Basta?” He asked, addressing the man with the knife that was still stood behind her.

She saw Basta’s evil smile spread across his face as he approached Shelly. Lisa started to rise to her feet but another man grabbed her roughly. She could see the fear in Shelly’s face as Basta raised the knife. Lisa began to scream for them to stop, to let Shelly go but her words fell on deaf ears. She tried to shut out the horror that she knew was coming but still Lisa could not tear her eyes from Shelly’s. She could see Shelly trying to back away from Basta, could see her trying to scramble back across the floor.

Basta bent down and looked into Shelly’s eyes. She silently pleaded with him to have mercy; to let her go but Shelly could see the hate and the evil in his face. She saw the knife gleam in a shaft of moonlight as Basta stroked her neck with it, almost lovingly. Shelly’s eyes were reflected in the blade as Basta plunged it into her neck. She could feel the flesh and muscle tearing under his pressure as he sliced through her throat. The last thing she ever heard was Capricorn’s gentle laugh and Lisa’s bloodcurdling scream.