Dark Secrets

Eighteen Years Earlier:

Swirls of fog danced in the air on a late October night in the city. Litter blew down the deserted sidewalk in the downtown commercial district. At this ungodly hour, all the stores were closed, and their owners were tucked away safely at home miles away in a picturesque suburb.

In their absence, something stirred in the darkness!

It moved by a small convenience store which had been owned and operated by the same couple for the past fifty years. The store closed as early as four in the afternoon in winter months because the wife refused to stay open after the sun went down.

The neon sign they had purchased to hang above the door many years ago had developed an annoying buzz. It got worse as various sections of the sign burnt out. Before giving up completely, a failing section of the sign would blink intermittently.

The neon light shone brighter for a moment, barely illuminating the outline of someone, or something, moving towards the doorway of the store.

When the light buzzed and flashed again, it revealed a hooded figure dressed in medieval robes. The figure ducked into a nearby alley and disappeared in the fog and shadows.

A couple blocks away, Serena Gallows strutted down the street. The fog parted as she walked, clearing a path for her.

Her hips swung back and forth rhythmically as her high heels clipped the cement. She didn't seem to mind the cold air since her miniskirt left most of her legs bare except for the nude-colored nylons which hugged her legs like a second skin.

Serena noticed that every other storefront on the street was empty; this created a strange checkerboard-like appearance when observed at night because the vacant business spaces were dark while those that still housed active businesses had some kind of lights or signs in the windows.

Like many old New England cities, this one had seen better days. The larger stores and the chains had long ago left the downtown commercial district for the multi-story enclosed mall right off the highway exit. The mom-and-pop stores which still dotted the downtown neighborhood were the last of a dying breed.

Serena passed the window of a video store with a sign boasting that they no longer charged rewind fees. The store's next window featured frames of mini light bulbs around movie posters advertising the new releases of Batman Returns and Unforgiven.

The young woman caught her scantily clad reflection as she walked by, but she didn't stop to look at herself. She didn't have to; she knew from past experience that she was dressed perfectly for the job.

Serena heard a low rumble as a car turned the corner. Its headlights broke through the fog like rays of sunshine piercing dark clouds. The fact that the headlights landed precisely at the same height as her butt and showed off how shapely and inviting it was couldn't have been planned but was certainly a welcomed coincidence.

Serena glanced slyly over her shoulder at the expensive, brand-new sedan as it slowly cruised by her. She licked her lips both in anticipation and as a not-so-subtle enticement to the driver. Her tongue moistened the harlot red lipstick as it slithered over her lips.

The sedan passed her without stopping, but Serena wasn't worried. She knew how this type of pas de deux played out.

As her full-length reflection appeared in the driver's side mirror, Serena noticed the brake lights illuminate. Serena smiled as the car circled back around toward her.

From a short distance behind Serena, the hooded figure followed her silently. It blended in with the fog and shadows again. Its stealth movements were planned and precise, like a cat stalking its prey.

Serena felt something wrap around her high heels. It startled her for a moment as the fur rubbed against her open toe shoes.

She looked down to see a rat with its mouth open, ready to take a bite out of her ankle!

Most women wearing high heels with exposed ankles would panic for at least a second before they had time to react. Serena had already formulated a plan and put it into action before the first second passed.

She raised her other foot and jabbed it through the rat's open mouth, instantly piercing its vocal cords in order to prevent it from making so much as a dying squeak. In the next movement, she angled her foot up sending the spike of her heel into the rat's brain, finishing it off instantly.

Serena shook its carcass off her shoe, and it rolled silently into the gutter. Her only concern was that its blood may have stained her shoes.

As if in response to her thought and as if at her command, the dark clouds in the sky parted to reveal a full moon. Serena utilized the fleeting moonlight to quickly glance at her feet and her red pumps.

Her fears of finding a stain proved unfounded. As rapidly as the clouds parted a second earlier, they blocked the moonlight again.

Serena had dispatched the rat so quickly and effortlessly that neither the driver of the car nor the hooded figure following her even noticed that anything was amiss.

Finally, the sedan pulled up right next to her. The tinted, reflective window rolled down slightly. A hand reached out and waved two twenty-dollar bills.

Serena giggled and motioned with her slender finger and brightly painted fingernails to roll the window farther down. The driver complied.

With the slight hum of the electric window motor in the background, the tinted window disappeared into the doorframe. The driver of the car was not a middle-aged man as one might presume, but in fact, a twenty-one-year-old blonde-haired jock wearing a college letterman jacket.

In the shadows, a second hooded figure joined the first hooded figure. The two of them watched and waited.

Serena slinked her way closer to the car window. As she leaned down, she pushed a lock of her raven-colored hair behind her ear. Her boobs practically jumped out of her blouse and slapped the wide-eyed jock in the face.

"Looking for a little excitement tonight, Sugar?" she managed to ask in a tone that was both sweet and seductive at the same time.

"You offering?" he asked, playing it cool.

Serena smiled. A stray bit of light gave a glimpse of contrast between her gleaming white teeth and her blood-red lips.

The young woman brushed an imaginary piece of lint off her left breast. "What's your name?" she asked him.

"Carl."

"Got your daddy's car tonight, Carl?"

Carl shook his head affirmatively and added, "And his money."

Serena smiled again and stood up tall. As she sashayed a few steps away from the car, Carl's eyes followed her. He couldn't believe the way her tight skirt hugged her ass.

Serena looked back over her shoulder and beckoned him with the long fingernail of her index finger.

She confidently strode to the sidewalk and approached the stairs of an occult bookstore that was located on the garden level of a brick building. The five stairs and metal drainage grate created an alcove in front of a glass door with peeling green paint on its wooden frame.

Carl shut the sedan's engine off. He left the headlights on, however. They provided beams of light through the dark and fog which still rolled in and around them in the breeze.

The young man got out of the car. He ignored the faint warning beeps the car emitted due to the headlights running. He leaned against the hood of the car, watching Serena, but not taking any steps to follow her.

Serena enticed him by lifting the hem of her miniskirt a couple more inches. She reached under the skirt and moved her hand suggestively.

Despite the stirring in his jeans, Carl asked, "Out here? It's freezing!"

"I've got a warm place for you to put it," she assured him.

Definitely wanting to explore Serena's "warm place" forced Carl's legs into action. He followed her to the top of the stairs. She took his hand and led him down the five steps into the bookstore's alcove.

Nearby, through the darkness, the eyes of the hooded figures stared at them.

Serena toyed with the uppermost button on her blouse that was actually fastened. She drew circles around it with her finger.

She looked down at the button lustfully and teased the plastic with her tongue. She took it in her mouth and the button disappeared from sight for a moment until she puckered her lips and spit it back out.

Carl was disappointed to see that it was still attached and still buttoned. As he felt the disturbance in his jeans growing more pronounced, he reached out to grab the button. He had every intention of ripping it right off her blouse.

CLANG! The sound of crashing metal startled Carl. The rest of his body stiffened.

He swung his head around toward the direction of the sound. Several thoughts ran through his mind simultaneously. Who or what was out there with them? What harm would it do?

A mangy cat darted out from behind a trash can at the top of the stairs and scampered off down the sidewalk.

Carl breathed a sigh of relief. "Stupid cat. Scared me half to death."

Serena ran her fire engine red fingernail through his blonde hair and replied, "Just wait."

The two hooded figures suddenly and silently emerged from the darkness. They stood at the top of the stairs staring down at Carl and Serena.

With his back to the stairs, Carl wasn't aware that his sexual conquest was on display. He groped at Serena like the clumsy jock he was. He pulled at the lightweight fabric of her blouse.

A couple buttons popped off, giving him access to reach around and fumble with the hook on her bra.

Based on his awkwardness, Serena wondered if Carl was a virgin. The thought neither pleased nor displeased her. It was mere curiosity on her part.

Impatient with his mishandling of such a simple task, Serena reached back and unhooked the bra herself, letting it fall to the ground and exposing her breasts.

She pulled his head towards her greedily. The look on her face indicated that she definitely enjoyed what Carl was doing at that moment. She was glad he was more adept at actually fondling her breasts than trying to get access to them.

Serena's sharp nails drew a thin line of blood as they glided across the exposed skin under the hairline on the back of Carl's neck.

Carl winced in pain and in surprise. He touched the back of his neck and pulled his hand away.

A few specks of blood dripped to the cement. "You like it rough?" he asked her.

"Hell yeah," she stated unequivocally.

Carl grunted as he gripped her arms and pulled her into his body, grinding against her through his clothes without mercy. As he reached down and began to unbutton his jeans, they both moaned with pleasure.

The two hooded figures attacked at that precise moment!

They swooped down from their spot at the top of the stairwell. The hooded figures threw punches at the head and kicked in the most vulnerable of bodily locations.

"Hey, what the f—" Carl managed to scream out in shock and protest before an elbow to the mouth interrupted the outburst.

The elbow belonged to Serena who joined in with the attackers!

Despite his efforts to defend himself, the three of them got the best of him in a matter of minutes. One of the hooded figures pulled a length of rope out from the pockets of the robe and bound Carl's hands behind his back. The other one had a small roll of duct tape and slapped a piece of it across Carl's mouth.

The three of them dragged Carl, bloodied and battered, up the stairs of the alcove. At the top, his legs flailed, and he kicked the trash can over.

Garbage spilled out as the metal can clanged and somersaulted down the steps. When the trash can stopped at the bottom of the stairs, the only sound that could be heard was Carl's muffled vocalizations of protest under the duct tape.

"Cool it, Romeo," one of the hooded figures warned him.

"His name's Carl," Serena explained.

"Who gives a shit what his name is?"

Serena nodded her acquiescence. It really didn't make any difference whether they knew his name or not.

The attackers forced Carl across the street. They walked through his father's sedan's headlight beams and up the street a block until they reached a station wagon parked against the curb.

The two hooded figures forced Carl into the back seat. One got in on each side of him. They slapped the manual door locks.

When they finally removed their hoods, Carl discovered he had been kidnapped by two young adults, a male and a female.

Serena got into the driver's seat. She turned the key and the engine roared to life.

In the backseat, the kidnappers tied Carl's legs with more rope. Carl twisted in the seat to take one last look at his father's car, left helplessly in the middle of the deserted urban street.

"Sure got a live one tonight," said the male kidnapper.

"And I'm sick of it," said the female. She stared into Carl's eyes and continued, "You want to know what happens to people who make me sick?"

She reached under the front seat and pulled out a butcher knife. She held it up to Carl's throat with the sharp edge against his skin.

Carl's eyes widened with fear, and he tried to scream through the duct tape. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he imagined how the knife would slice his throat if the station wagon hit a pothole.

Serena monitored the situation via the rear-view mirror while she drove. She admonished her co-conspirators, "Be careful, you two. No accidents. It's getting late and I don't feel like having to start over from scratch with another one tonight."

"You're right. We don't want to make the Master angry," said the man.

"I just want to see him suffer," his partner said as she caressed the knife against Carl's face.

"Plenty of time for that later."

The three of them laughed wildly while Carl continued to twist and grunt to no avail.

"Why can't we drug them or something?" the young woman whined.

"Then the blood wouldn't be pure," the man replied as he looked Carl up and down.

Serena noticed Carl's reflection in the rear-view mirror, mentally noting and enjoying the look of terror in his eyes.

"I feel like we've been in the car all night," the female kidnapper complained as the station wagon raced down the dark and deserted highway past nothing but trees. She couldn't remember how long it had been since they saw a streetlight or an off-ramp.

"It's been about two hours since we picked up Carl," Serena informed her partners as the first drops of rain hit the windshield. "Hold on, we're driving into a storm."

Even with the windshield wipers swishing back and forth, it was hard to see the road. Luckily, Serena had made this trip before and was well acquainted with the territory.

A flash of lightning streaked across the sky and provided enough light to reveal a sign that said: Welcome To Maplecrest, Vermont.

Not long after they passed the sign, Serena slowed the car and pulled over to the side of the highway near a barely noticeable break in the trees. She turned off the highway onto an unmarked and secluded dirt road.

The station wagon bounced along the unpaved road for another fifteen minutes. For the first time since he had been abducted, Carl felt thankful. His gratitude was due to the fact that the young lady had tired of threatening his neck with the knife long before they hit this terribly bumpy patch of road.

The farther into the woods they got, the stronger the storm raged. Everything looked distorted through the walls of water washing over the car's windows. The tires kicked mud through the air.

Serena brought the station wagon to a stop in a small clearing in front of a cave. Branches bent to the breaking point by the wind slapped against the cave's partially concealed entrance. Serena and her two partners yanked Carl out of the vehicle.

"I hope the Master will be pleased with this one," Serena said.

They could barely hear her over the sounds of the howling wind and torrential rains. Because of the way they had tied his legs, Carl couldn't take normal steps. The three of them pretty much dragged Carl through the mud and hauled him face first into the cave.

Carl lost his balance and tumbled to the floor. With assistance, he was able to get back on his feet.

Again, his eyes widened with fear when he saw the interior of the cave. Carl looked from side to side. His heart raced even faster than it had all night.

Up until this point, he kept trying to tell himself that this was all some sick joke, maybe a prank from the guys at the frat house. He almost deserved it after some of the stuff he pulled since freshman year.

He had hoped that at any moment, one of his captors would start laughing and say, "Sucker, we tricked you." Then all of them would have a good laugh together and he'd start planning how to get them back.

However, standing there, looking at the cave, there was no doubt that this was anything but a joke. These people were definitely into whatever they were into for real and worse yet, they were clearly crazy.

Carl took it all in. The only wording he could think of to describe it was "a mock church."

Pentagrams inscribed on the floor formed a repeating pattern. Several hideous looking stone gargoyles took the place of statues of saints.

Rather than the stations of the cross depicted in paintings on the walls, scenes of violence, murder, and mayhem stood out. An altar in the middle of the room sat draped in black fabric.

A group of people, dressed in those same medieval robes that his captors wore, kneeled before the altar.

Carl felt so overwhelmed that he failed to notice the most obvious thing until last.

Next to the altar, there was an upside down, life-sized wooden cross!