《Heathens》3
Advertisement
Apollo rushed into the house. The door slammed into the wall. The knob embedded itself into the cheap wood. His pupils were dilated. The lights were blurry and erratic, like speeding wisps in the night sky. He started following them. Walking, running, into the fridge. The counter, knocking over chairs. He followed the erratic light, until he realized it was just a bulb dead center a slow moving fan. The nun came into the room, eyes open. He turned to her, his eyes wide and his mouth drooping. His hand reached over to touch her stomach, her hips. He got closer. He felt closer. A surreal oneness with her, with the very universe.
She slapped him across the face.
"What's the matter with you?" She asked. He stopped for a while and rested against the sink. His heart, still racing, his artificial happiness, still surging like an electrical shock.
"Drugged," He blurted like a drunkard. "Feel happy, so happy,"
He tried to get closer to her. His arm hovered over her chest. She grabbed it and put him in an armbar. It was supposed to hurt. But he couldn't feel it, though he knew his own arm was bent irregularly And noticing this, his complacency and his drooling smile, she eased. She grabbed his shoulders instead and reared him towards the chair. He plopped down, his hands extending out to touch her again. Smiling, stupid.
“Lord have mercy on your lewdness," She said. “I’m three times your age for god’s sake.
"Orange juice." He whispered. She leaned closer to him, her ear towards him.
“What was that?” She asked.
He tried to reach for a kiss. She hit his hand.
"Sorry," He said. "Orange juice. Need it. Food too, fatty."
He held his chest and felt his heartbeat. It was twice as high as it should have been, and he was just sitting, staring at a seventy-five-year-old woman. He didn't know what hit him worse, the blood loss or the reality of his dumb state. It was difficult, annoying, embarrassing, to be conscious of your high and uninhibited self, to look at yourself from the third person, judging someone you can’t control.
Advertisement
She looked into the fridge. He turned away from staring at her bottom. She put the carton of orange juice on top of the table. Next to it, a few sticks of butter. He gripped it with one hand, put it against his mouth and with the other, crushed it through the plastic mouth hole. It nearly spilled out of his mouth, like a burst, a fire hydrant.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
“Nothing, juice helps with blood loss,” He ate the butter next. “Calories help my system, help filter whatever's in me.”
He extended his hurt leg out. The calf muscles were torn, there was an obvious incision wound. It looked thinner, weaker too. "Drugged. MDMA like substance, demons." He blurted in between drinks.
"Demons?" She asked. "Here?"
"Where else?"
She scratched her head.
"I looked into those murders, they lead me somewhere...bad. Real bad." He said.
"You should have taken Dion."
He stopped, the thought sobered him. He rubbed his head, the images clashing with his sense of happiness. The images of the corpses littered in that little dark enclave, below the trains.
"No, I shouldn’t have. It's a good thing he didn't see what I saw.” The images started to return. Only slightly, to a more normal, dull shade."What's important is that he's safe and that I make an effort to contain this problem. I don’t think there’s that many creeps left, anyway.”
"What makes you say that?"
"Because most of them were dead when I found them.” He looked at her, smiling. “Asmodai, lord of pleasure. She’s not a demon you covet for power. She’s one you covet to get away. To escape. To indulge. And from my knowledge, only one remains. That I know of, at least.”
Advertisement
"You let one escape?" She screamed.
"Not by fucking choice." He was glad to be angry. Glad to feel anything other than stupid, drunk fake happiness. "I'll find it. It couldn't have been that dangerous, it ran from me after all. If it had any power, it would have fought with the other one and..."
He thought it over.
"Well, I shouldn’t jump to conclusions" He rubbed his chin. His irises shrunk. "Whatever it is, I'll take care of it."
"Is it another demon?"
"Maybe, maybe not." He said. "It's something dangerous, though."
"How are you going to find it?" She asked.
"How else? By hunting."
His hand went across the table, towards hers. They touched fingers. She reeled back.
"I can't help myself, sorry." He said.
"One more move and I'll break your jaw."
"I thought you were a nun, understanding and all." He said.
"Ex-nun," She repeated. “Ex-nun, ex-nun.”
He rubbed his head and drank from his carton. He could feel the lightheadedness leaving. He could feel some semblance of strength returning.
"Still, whatever I was injected with really fucked me up. I can’t imagine how much worse it would be for normal people." He looked deep into the empty carton, he tipped it over and curved his tongue for the droplets. “I don’t have to imagine that hard actually. I saw what happened to them. Dead, murdered.”
"How many did you see?"
"I lost count. I tried to look over the corpses but the incoming police and drug were too much. Some of them had slit throats, some of them had puncture wounds. Some of them looked like mummies, completely drained." He said. “Brutal, but I think there couldn’t have been too many murderers. And considering I killed one of the culprits, some shitty slime thing, then I can’t imagine there are many left.
"And you let one escape, doing god knows what because you were too horny and high to stop it." She screamed. "Imbecile."
"Doing god knows what, huh.” He looked out the window. “If it's going to kill, we’ll hear about it soon or would have. I don’t think it is too. It had...sense. At least, it was smarter than what’d you typically find. There aren’t many demons with what we would call, intellect. At least none you’d find on earth. Which either means it belongs to a higher echelon of demons. Or…”
He stood up.
“It’s not a demon at all.”
Advertisement
- In Serial103 Chapters
End's End
Crow Tempora is an optimistic country bumpkin who knows very little of life in the heart of the world's cities, however behind his easy smile is a stony determination to achieve his goal of accomplishing the impossible- one that he can only reach by winning the Sieve, the largest competition of young Mystics the world has ever seen. Famous across the entire world and loved almost as widely, Gemini Menza has never known a single day of anonymity in her short life. Like most magical prodigies she has spent her years on guard against powerful Immortals attempting to use her as a tool, unlike most she is uniquely gifted and burdened with the position of being the single most magically prodigious individual of her generation- perhaps throughout all of history. Entering the Sieve not to work for victory, but to collect it as a boring chore, she soon finds herself shocked by the difficulty of her tasks, both inside the contest and out. After all, she was also given the privilege of joining at a younger age than anyone else. Machiavellian manipulator Unity Eden is growing tired of the tasks forced onto him by those who control him, unfortunately he also happens to be controlled by the leaders of the largest empire the world has ever seen. While he has little hope of wriggling his way out of it, he intends to make his entry into the Sieve as damaging to them as he can. While most are fixated on the events of the Sieve's stages, intently watching the young and talented as they go head to head to find out who holds the title of strongest, Karma Alabaster has her eyes on the powers behind the curtains- the endless machinations of the Immortals and their servants. Caught between enough crisscrossing schemes to form a spiderweb, she must use every ounce of her not inconsiderable mind to keep herself from playing into another's hands... all while solving a mysterious and seemingly impossible murder. The winds of change are blowing in Bermuda, and only one person will shape them. Cover art by: Nova @no_no_nova on tiktok @no_no_no_nova on ig THREE NEW CHAPTERS POSTED EVERY SINGLE WEEK.
8 84 - In Serial104 Chapters
PERCEPTION (A New Begining)
After a serious head injury, Tom can't help but notice his perception of the world changing. He gains the ability to control his perception of time. What would happen to a normal human if they could see/think at superhuman speeds? What would they be capable of? Follow Tom as he finds out what he is capable of and realizes the consequences of his newfound power. PLEASE DO NOT READ IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE OFFENSIVE AND DARK SUBJECTS. (This isn't a ploy to get more people to read. If you even think you might not be able to handle it just read something else.)
8 152 - In Serial8 Chapters
The Warlock of Erlanger
Aron believes he's nothing special, the son of Eric and Arya Wright and apprentice to the blacksmith Tenkay. His master disagrees, telling him of the magic inside of the oblivious Aron. the Kingdom testers find he's not just a sorcerer; he's a warlock, the protectors and arbiters of the continent, the first born in hundreds of years. he's whisked away to Cranach Dale, the premier magic school of the Five Kingdoms. under the tutelage of the mysterious headmaster and the guidance of the eccentric sorcerer Sommers, Aron learns to navigate the world he has been thrust into, finding both steadfast allies and treacherous enemies as he strives to become the warlock Erlanger desperately needs.
8 80 - In Serial52 Chapters
The Man Who Walked in the Dark
Just because it can be found, doesn't mean it should. All things found, all things fixed. Jude Demarco was the best private detective Nicodemia Station had ever ignored. Detective, handyman, medic. He was a bulldog who tracked down every lead and wouldn't let go until the bloody truth died dripping in his jaws. Even if someone got hurt. Even if someone got killed. You lost it? He can find it. When a collector arrives in a private cruiser from Earth looking for a stolen painting, Demarco has to decide if a few dimes are worth dealing with the worst of the worst in Nicodemia Station. It'll pit him against crime lords, government bureaucrats, and, even worse, the Catholic Church. If there's anything folks get too passionate about, it's art and religion. No sane person would take a job that mixed the two. Then again, sometimes a person just gets desperate.
8 143 - In Serial7 Chapters
Test World 01
The story surrounds Ayshi... ...but who is she? The world is not as we know it.Everything is overgrown with nature......but not just our normal nature.Alive......but empty, without any wild life.Peaceful, quiet, green, but the weird part is that when one looks around, wherever he turns, the exact same copy of the exact same plant, the exact same tree......the exact same picture...But what about Test World 01...?
8 159 - In Serial11 Chapters
First Of My Kind
A story about a young man who is reborn into a strange world full of new and amazing things. But there is also many powerful and evil things in this new world, along with corruption, discrimination, slavery and hate. Will this young man be able to survive, especially as he is not human any more, or will this world corrupt him like it has so many others. This is my first attempt at FF, I am happy to receive criticisms and advise. Please check out my other story http://royalroadl.com/fiction/7971 18+ (Violence, Strong language, Gore, sexual content)
8 137

