Twisted Roads – Twisted Horror Stories by Matthew Tonks

Lioness

She peers through the crowd, searching. Slowly, she closes her eyes and lifts her nose into the air, sniffing deeply. His scent wafts up her nostrils, and her eyes explode open with panic. He can’t be more than a few feet away. Too late, she realises he is closer, as she feels it dig into her back and lets out a low growl.

“Donovan, are you sure you want to play this game again?” she hisses.

“Fuck you, Clare. This dance ends tonight, by my hands. I won’t live like this anymore—looking over my shoulder, wondering when you’ll turn up, wanting more of me than I care to give,” he says as he forces the gun deeper into her back.

“Don’t make me out to be the aggressor. You opened the box. You gave me life. You performed the ritual! You can’t just walk away when you sell your soul, Donovan. We’re linked, forever, until you’re dragged down to the fiery pits of damnation. THAT’S WHEN THIS IS OVER!” she says through clenched teeth, forcing a smile.

“This isn’t what I wanted! This isn’t what I agreed to—you dogging me forever!”

“Maybe you should’ve read the fine print first, before you accepted the offer,” she says with a laugh. He pushes the gun into her side deeper, causing her to wince in pain.

“SHUT UP! Tell me—tell me how I can be rid of you once and for all!”

“I thought we just went through that? You can’t ever be rid of me. Well, that’s a lie—you can be rid of me, but only in death!”

“BULLSHIT! You want to be free of this as much as I do. There has to be a way, some way—I can’t FUCKING live like this!” he cries.

“Well then, kill yourself,” she says calmly.

“Don’t fucking tempt me, bitch!”

She laughs again. “Don’t tempt you? Seriously, that’s all I’ve ever done since we first laid eyes on each other. Kill yourself, let this ride be done, claim your reward, and burn forevermore in the pits of your kingdom that awaits downstairs.”

“FUCK YOU!” he hisses as he pulls the trigger. An explosion rips through her, blowing a hole in her stomach. She looks down calmly, clenching her teeth together and letting out a low, primeval growl as the hole begins to quickly heal over.

“You don’t know how much I loved this dress, Donovan. They don’t even make it anymore, you stupid FUCK!” she growls, turning quickly toward his quivering frame.

“Sucks to be you, then,” he quips back.

“Oh no, Donovan, it sucks to be you,” she says with a wicked smile as she grabs him by the throat and lifts him high into the air. “Your damnation will surely be damning,” she says with a smile, “but how I’m going to send you there, that’s going to be another level of pain you’ll never recover from.”