"Bring the puppy." Alice places the bronze pot over the hay littering the boards of the barn loft. Both of them pant with the effort involved in carrying the pot up the rickety wooden latter. Before they went up, they took the puppy out of the pot to keep him from jumping out mid-trip. Now, it is paying quiet attention with its head tilted towards their muted voices.

Bella shivers with something more than the cold of the chilled drafts that creep between the barn's walls. The three electric bulbs that illuminate the space stocked with yellowed straw buzz in their niches. She wishes fervently that someone will wake up and investigate why the place is lit up and stop Alice.

"Why do we need him up here? He could fall." Bella pulls out the candles, the jar, and the herbs from the pot. Alice begins to arrange the candles around it and opens the earth-filled jar.

"He's not going to fall. We'll put him back in the pot. He's the perfect sacrifice." Alice turns her back on Bella and laughs quietly. This game has come too far and she's dying to find out how much longer she can draw it out.

Bella shakes her head violently, panic rising. "No, Alice. Not the puppy!" She's about to go down the ladder when Alice grips her hand tightly before she can escape.

"The puppy, or you."

Bella's eyes fill with tears, terror, and rage. She shakes her head again and tries to pull her hand free of Alice. In turn, Alice grasps it tighter, digging her nails in. She forces her to hold her gaze, and tastes metallic fear in her mouth. "Bring him, Bella."

Alice releases her, and then empties the dirt jar into the pot. She opens the bag of herbs, while she pictures Bella's face behind her, scared to death. Now she'll know there's nothing she can deny Alice.

But she's not really going to light up the hay. There is no power on earth that could make her get that close to real fire. As soon as Bella brings up the puppy, she can reveal the truth and they'll laugh about their adventures.

Bella climbs down rapidly, tripping over the last few rungs of rotting wood and falling to the floor along with the ladder. She sobs uncontrollably, while the puppy approaches her and licks her face. She takes it into her arms and tiptoes away, barefooted over the packed earth of the barn. Alice still has her back to Bella, going deeper into the corner of the loft, gathering dry hay and wood splinters.

Bella hears a soft rattle in her pocket. She reaches in, clutching the kitchen matches in her sweaty hand. She had forgotten about them, but now the pressure of her fingers over the box gives her back some sanity. She retreats even further, until her back crashes into the barn door. Groping blindly, she finds the latch and opens the door, letting the whistling wind inside. The puppy whimpers when Bella squeezes him too tightly, and they break out into the night.

Bella puts the puppy on the floor, toeing it gently out of the way with her foot. Taking several matches out of the box, she lights them all in a single pull and the smell of sulfur. She tosses them immediately on the nearest bales of hay. The flames flare up in a blaze, feeding voraciously. Bella slams the barn door, and hears the latch click into place.

Before she sees the fire, Alice can smell it. She runs to the edge of the loft, and almost falls over before she realizes that the wood ladder is completely out of reach. She hears the hay and the wood crackle, protesting as the fire sweeps over everything in its wake. Jumping from this height only to fall into the flames would be madness.

"Bella, help me!" Alice scrambles to her feet; she runs to the barn walls, beating on them, trying to find another way out. "Bella!" Her screams reach a desperate pitch, and the black smoke begins to rise, drowning out her cries. The panic inside her increases in leaps and bounds, thinking about how she'll roast to death. She sobs, defeated, retreating into the corner of the loft, when the fire creeps over the edge before her eyes. The smoke fills her lungs, Alice's frantic howls and wails mingling with the choking spasms.

Outside, Bella hears Alice's voice, but cannot take her eyes off the burning barn. She picks up the puppy again and holds it tightly in her arms. The blaze reaches the roof beams, which almost immediately collapse throwing sparks into the air. Alice's screams cease.

Bella watches the joyful flames dance in a ballet from hell itself, burning the witch.

-X-

THE END

I hope you enjoyed this story, creepiness and all. I took your suggestions to finish it on Halloween. Thank you all for your support, reviews, and comments. Stay tuned for the upcoming conclusion of "Always Where I Need to Be" and a new story, "Mine," a crossover with a very famous Mexican-Colombian soap-opera. Epic B/E love, intrigue, and fun times all around.

Cheers to all, and thanks for reading!