Chapter 2
There was a knock at the door. Without hesitation, the Hessian opened the door. A black-hooded figure stood as weightless as a shadow there. It held a scroll in one of its rotten corpse-like hands.
"What in God's name is that?" Mary asked, retreating from the creature's putrid smell.
"A messenger," the Hessian responded, "from Lucifer himself. Go and get two coins out of the jar in the kitchen."
Mary did as she was asked only because she wanted the horrid creature to go away. She was surprised when the coins burned her palms at the slightest contact. They glowed red hot like coals when she touched them. She touched them as little as she could. She was surprised when the creature eagerly snatched them out of her hands, leaving a trail of slime on her fingers. She gagged and ran away.
"You must excuse her," the Hessian said in German, "she is unaccustomed to our world.
The creature spoke in a strange language that Mary had neither heard nor could describe. It almost sounded like a sequence of breaths. With each exhale, steam would emerge from the thing's hood. For a split second, she could see glowing golden eyes reflecting from the shadowy darkness.
"Mary," the Hessian snapped crisply. He motioned her toward him. She still held the towel in her hand that she'd been attempting to scrub the slime away with.
"We must follow him. Stay close to me or risk getting attacked."
She did as he told her. They moved out of the house and down a steep and narrow path. The sky itself was black, but glowing red and orange clouds flashed across it. Ominous lightning stabbed through them. Occasionally, a funnel of fire would descend, tear up something, and suck back into the clouds in a matter of seconds. More creatures of all shapes and sizes milled around. Many of the human souls that she saw looked like rotting corpses. She could tell how a few of them had died very easily. Many of the males looked up at her and sneered. Upon seeing the Hessian's hand grasp the hilt of his sword, however, they turned away. They appeared to fear him immensely. She wondered what had happened down here…
"They smell your blood" he whispered, "they know you are still alive. Most of them will drink it if they catch you."
His demonic smile made her cringe and grimace.
Up ahead, the creepiest looking church she had ever seen loomed. It was almost an anti-church—the building was as black as coal. The tone of the bell ringing was deep and longing like a hunger not satisfied. The windows glowed brightly with grotesque images of Jesus being tortured. If the images themselves had not been so macabre, she would have admired the handiwork of the artist. The messenger led them up the stone stairs and inside.
Inside the church was far worse than the outside. There were people having sex in the pews, getting into fights with each other, and doing other unthinkable things. It was only then that Mary realized there were holes in the roof that allowed occasional jets of lightning to come in. The man who appeared to be the preacher wore black robes, but his skin was a sickly green color and his eyes seemed to protrude slightly from his skull. She noticed that the few congregation members that were sitting still wore black blindfolds and were the same sickly green shade as he was.
"Ah…Jaegar. Back from your little curse, are you? And who is this delicious little tart?" he asked mockingly.
Mary was too busy being surprised that the Hessian had a name. She was so used to hearing him referred to as "the Hessian", "the headless horseman", or "the German" that she'd forgotten he'd had a name. Of course he had a name…common sense should have told her that.
"This is Mary. We are to be married at once," Jaegar told him.
The preacher ventured closer to Mary. He sniffed at the air around her and smiled.
"Mmmm….treachery…murder…greed…oh, and what have we here? Lust…"
He licked his lips and Mary shuddered.
Funny, back at home, this would have been great…having all these people attracted to me. Of course I don't want it here; this is Hell.
"Well, now, let me see…there are a few preparations we have to make. First, we need proper clothing for her."
The preacher waved his hand and Mary's dress turned into a black wedding dress. The black lace cascaded out like a solid sheet of cobwebs.
"And there's the matter of rings…I know just the perfect ones!"
He reached into a box hidden behind the pulpit and retrieved two rings. They were black with glowing orange stones. Without asking, he jammed the smaller one onto Mary's finger. It stung sharply and she let out a cry of pain.
"Yes, yes, it hurts a bit…that's because the ring is literally binding to your flesh. You'll never lose it that way!" the crooked priest chuckled.
Jaegar took his ring with no reaction.
"Now…there's the simple matter of the vows and the contract. Jaegar, I know your answer already. But…Mary! What do you say? Do you take this man to be your husband?"
The congregation members had stopped their various forms of debauchery and were now listening with interest. All around her, the males and even some of the females were showing some form of arousal. It made her want to vomit.
"I do," she choked out.
"Now you just have to sign here. Take this pen."
He handed her a blood red quill.
"There isn't any ink," she protested.
"Don't worry about that, just sign!"
She touched the paper with the sharp quill tip and a sharp pain suddenly radiated through her whole hand. It was as if she'd touched broken glass.
"Keep going," the preacher said impatiently.
Mary sighed and gathered up her strength and courage. She quickly signed the rest of her name and dropped the quill. Her injured hand was bleeding again, the wounds torn open and raw.
Blood…I just signed my name in my blood…
"Good. I know pronounce you man and wife," the preacher said, satisfied. He popped the pen in his mouth and sucked out the extra blood.
Jaegar lifted her chin and gave her a peck on the lips. The congregation booed in protest because they'd been hoping for a show. He gave them a scorching look and they went back to their own business.
"You may go home now, but you must consummate the marriage before she'll be protected," the preacher called after them.
Ugh….Mary thought, her stomach rolling.