Night of Necromancy
Author's Note: I intend to pick up the pace on this story a little, not a lot of exciting parts have really happened yet. There is a lot of excitement yet to come, and I aim to make this chapter one of them.
Note: The first-person point of view is over for now. That was really only supposed to be a one-time thing.
Happy Hotel
It was getting late. Charlie decided to call it a night and join her girlfriend in their suite. Vaggie wasn't asleep yet, though she looked pretty close. The hellish princess slips out of her work clothes and lays down next to her purple girlfriend.
"So, how was your day?" Vaggie asks. Charlie sighs lightly.
"It was a little rough. I keep thinking about Douglas and I hope that he's okay." She says, causing her girlfriend's smile to vanish.
"Okay. Why are you worried about him?" Vaggie asks.
"Because he went to look for Franklin, and Franklin is already dead." She states, causing Vaggie to chuckle.
"So you're saying Douglas is headed that direction too? He's reaching a dead end." She jokes lightly, causing Charlie to make a coy smile for a moment.
"I hope so." She says before slipping the blanket over her. "But I still haven't heard from him since this morning. I hope he's okay." The purple girl rolls her single eye and frowns lightly.
"Charlie, I really don't know if either of us should be concerned about him." She says, causing Charlie to gasp.
"What? How can you say that? He's our guest!" She asserts. Vaggie frowns lightly.
"Calm down for a second, will you?" She remarks. "Do you really think it's a good idea to let Douglas stay here? I'm starting to think we shouldn't trust him." She says. Charlie glooms.
"Why's that?" Vaggie shrugs.
"Well, do you think it's a great thing that he has a gun manufactured in Heaven? Even if he won't use it, I'm not really comfortable with him keeping it." She says before rolling over and squinting. "Not to mention he killed someone with it today." She mumbles.
"Well, that's true." The princess admits. "But it wasn't intentional murder, it was an unfortunate accident," Vaggie growls under her breath.
"You think Velvet was an accident?" She asks. Charlie's frown comes back.
"Okay, from what I've heard, Velvet was trying to kill him. You can't be upset at him for killing her in self-defense." She states. The purple girl rolls back and faces her again.
"No, but do you know what that means?" Charlie shrugs. "It means Douglas killed an overlord. Doesn't that scare you a little?" Charlie frowns again.
"Do you have any idea what Velvet did to so many men? If anything, I'm a little relieved it was her and not him." She says.
"Those men probably had it coming," Vaggie says before looking to the side. "Perverts." She mumbles.
"Well, I seriously doubt Douglas is like those other men. He seems pretty pure to me, and I really don't think he has bad intentions." The princess states.
"What do you mean 'bad' intentions? If he's not from Hell, and he's not going to be in Hell forever, then he's not one of us." She pauses for a moment and gives her girlfriend a serious look. "And if he's not one of us, then is what you consider a bad intention considered good in his perspective?" The princess sighs deeply.
"You really don't like boys, do you?" She says in disappointment. Vaggie exhales deeply and looks down.
"No, but that's beside the point. I have plenty of reasons to believe Douglas is a threat. I'm not sure we should let him stay here much longer." She says reluctantly. Charlie pats her on the shoulder.
"Just relax Vaggie. I already called my mom and told her about him. She says if he comes to them, they'll completely annihilate him." She states. *Now we just gotta keep him away from them.* She thinks.
"Get some rest, Hon, tomorrow we may get a few lucky guests," Vaggie says hopefully as she turns away and exhales contently.
"Good idea," Charlie says as she does the same. "Goodnight Vaggie." She says as she yawns.
"Goodnight Charlie," Vaggie responds. She flips the lamp off and they both fall asleep. Charlie finally stops thinking about Douglas, remembering God is on his side.
Mysterious Basement
After a seemingly long and painful rest. Douglas wakes up in a dark room with a few candles and nothing more lighting the place. The room smells a lot like dirt. Not anything particularly good or bad, but it smells like an underground atmosphere. Thankfully for him, it's not that hard to breathe. Though the edges of the room look like he's not alone, he's the only living thing in the room. He gathers his strength to stand up and looks around at what appears to be creepy wax figurines of demons in Hell, but none of them are animate. All of them are just standing on either the left or right side of the large dark room.
"H... hey D...oug." A really raspy voice calls out. Douglas flinches.
"Franklin?" He asks upon recognition to the voice. "AH!" He turns around instantly as a finger touches his shoulder. His heart begins to accelerate massively at the sight of Franklin standing in front of him, hideously deformed. "AH! What happened to you?!" He shouts as he steps back a couple of feet. The weak zombie steps forward very slowly.
"I'm fi...nnnnneeee," He says in a very snakelike voice. "Join me." He says as one of his eyeballs begins to droop. Douglas quickly withdraws his Glock and fires at the warlock zombie's forehead.
"NO!" He screams loudly. Suddenly the lights start to come on and glow bright red. Every single figurine turns their head his direction. "Uh oh," Douglas mumbles as the sound of a sinister laugh begins to slowly get louder and louder, as the person laughing gets closer.
"There you are, my son." An old woman says in the background. "I see you've brutally murdered my husband, again." She says, not showing the slightest bit of sadness in her sentence. Douglas looks around at each figurine one by one.
"Alright, that's enough! Which one of you said that?!" He asserts. "I demand you show yourself!" He exclaims. Suddenly a large hat lands on top of him like a box trap on an animal. The moment he lifts the top off to regain his vision, he's in another room with a tall woman.
"Hello, son." She says with a creepy grimace. She has pitch-black eyes, pinkish-purple hair, and a very fashionable hat most would find more ravishing on a younger woman. The young warrior glances at his list, identifying another overlord.
"Wait a second, you're Rosie the overlord. Aren't you?" He asks. The old woman chuckles.
"That's right little boy. I'm the oldest of the group, and most successful for that matter." She says as she holds her hand out in a polite gesture. "It's a pleasure." She says. Douglas slaps her hand aside.
"As if I'm shaking your hand! You're one of the evilest people in all of Hell!" He says firmly.
"Indeed I am. It would appear you and I are very alike." She says as a holographic image of Velvet's skeleton cracking appears. "Based on what you did to that poor beautiful young girl, I imagine you're one of the darkest people in Heaven." Douglas summons a pumpkin.
"And I'll be sure to leave you crushed on the ground just like her, witch!" He says as he swings the pumpkin toward her head. The moment he should hit her, the witch vanishes in a puff of smoke. "Whoa!" The pumpkin pulls him forward and he spins around, dropping the pumpkin and falling on his back. The moment his hat falls off, the room is back to the dark dungeon.
"Get him!" One of the figurines shouts. All the animate objects start to walk towards him. Douglas aims his pistol at one of them and fires. However, minimal damage is done.
"Why won't this gun kill you guys?" He asks as he tries teleporting, only to remember the gravity bind. "Okay, we'll do this the hard way!" He exclaims, summoning a wall of pumpkins. He pushes one of them at the figurine and it knocks it against the wall. He then begins to rotate and crush every single one of them. All the bodies lie against the wall, crushed by the impact. Despite this, Douglas hears Rosie laughing again.
"You think your little pumpkins are gonna stop my zombies?" She asks. A large black crystal appears in the middle of the room.
"Why can't you just let these souls rest in peace?" Douglas asks.
"The souls are resting, but their bodies are mine!" She shouts as she casts a red beam at the crystal. Bright red lights flash around the room, and each one of the damages bodies gets back up. Douglas facepalms.
"That's it! I'm breaking that platinum!" The holy soldier says as he launches a pumpkin at it. The orange plant bursts upon impact.
"Ha, ha, ha! Is that the best you have?" She asks before facing the figurines. "Seize him, and dismember him limb by limb!" She says as she turns around and starts walking away.
"Where are you going?" Douglas asks annoyed.
"Off to torture my husband." She replies before shutting the door. The young warrior faces the crystal and smirks savagely.
"You guys are stronger than plants? Let's see how you handle pure light!" He shouts as he fails to summon a Seiken Sword next to the shiny gem. The light explodes on the crystal and a huge gleam of white light illuminates the entire room.
"Ahhhh! It burns!" One of the bodies shouts in agony. All of them groan loudly as what flesh they still have is completely scorched off of their bodies. A bunch of incomplete skeletons fall to the floor.
"Not my first apocalyptic rodeo." Douglas comments. "Now let's get out of this dungeon." He says as he grabs a femur and rams the door with it. The door falls over the moment direct contact is made. "Yes!" He says cheerfully. "Now let's smite that which." He says to himself as he climbs the stairs.
"Help!" Someone shouts. Douglas shakes his head for a moment. "Get me out of here!" The voice cries out.
*It's only my imagination. Franklin is dead.* Douglas thinks to himself, before hearing evil laughter.
"Feel the pain, you traitor!" The old woman shouts. Douglas hears a sizzling sound, followed by a painful scream.
"OWWWW!" Franklin cries loudly. Douglas shuts his eyes firmly. How could this be happening? Franklin is dead! He watched him disintegrate, and then he blew the brains out of the zombie! Why can he still hear the deceased warlock's voice?
"This has got to be a hallucination." He thinks to himself.
"Silence puny morsel!" Rosie shouts as a large burning inferno is heard in a different room.
"AAAHHHH!" Franklin screams. Douglas shuts his eyes instantly as the pain heard in the man's voice starts to emotionally cripple him. He'd squashed over ten thousand undead creatures with pumpkins, but none of them showed half as much pain as this. Douglas looks around and listens for the source of the scream. Rosie's house was so big, and Douglas feared he may fall into a trap if he enters the wrong room. He grabs one of the doorknobs and pries the door open.
"AHA!" He exclaims loudly. Rosie turns around and gasps, holding a voodoo doll of Franklin in her hands. "I found you, witch!" He shouts. Rosie glares.
"What did you do to my minions?" She asks. A small soul taps the glass edge from inside a dark orb.
"Douglas! Please, help me!" The soul says. It was Franklin. He had none of his demonic features in the orb, it was just a small man trapped in a sanctuary he couldn't escape. Douglas glares at the evil witch.
"I decimated all your minions. Now let Franklin go! What did he ever do to you?" He asks demandingly. Rosie frowns and pulls out a book with a cross on it.
"Look at what he was reading behind my back." She says as Douglas gasps. A holy bible? He could've sworn they weren't available in Hell. How did Franklin ever get one? Douglas sheds a tear the moment he looks back to the trapped spirit. He never would've guessed Franklin was religious. He instantly grabs the Heaven's Glock and aims at Rosie's chest.
"You let him go! Right now!" He demands. Rosie smirks and expands the size of the voodoo doll, blocking her from the shot.
"You want to help me torture him? Then shoot it for me." She says welcomingly. Franklin taps the glass with a desperate look.
"Rosie, please! Torture me no longer. The pain is unbearable." He says in a pleading tone. Rosie begins to burn the arms on the doll, causing him to flail his arms. "Ah, owie! Hot!" He exclaims in a clearly discomforted voice.
"Serves you right for betraying me!" The witch says darkly. Douglas swiftly aims the Heaven's Glock at the orb and- *BANG!* The orb shatters into a bunch of small pieces, causing Rosie to gasp. "What have you done to my orb?!" She shouts angrily. Franklin smiles widely and faces Douglas.
"Thank you for freeing me son. It's something I will forever- AH!" He exclaims as Rosie shoves a needle into the doll's back.
"There's no escaping the pain Franklin, whether your soul is here or not!" She says evilly. Franklin winces a few times before Douglas summons a sanctuary with his hands.
"Enough!" He exclaims as a large holy sealing surrounds the doll. A moment later, Franklin's pain is gone. The warlock spirit sighs in relief.
"Thanks again dear boy, you've taken the pain away." He says. Rosie glares and shoves another needle into the doll, only for Franklin to not react. She tries to burn it, but nothing works.
"What did you do?!" She asks in a firm tone. Douglas steps forward.
"I sealed the curse within the doll. Now you can't hurt Franklin anymore." He says as he aims the gun at her. "Now step out and fight me, you cheap coward! Or I'll have to shoot you right there!" He says harshly. Rosie giggles a few times and casts as small spell on the floor.
"I'd love to see you try with weeds on you!" She says darkly. Douglas attempts to pull the trigger, but unfortunately, his gun is completely empty.
"Oh, come on!" He exclaims. Did he seriously use all of his bullets already? Before he can make any more moves, powerful dark vines wrap around his ankles and begin to restrain his legs to the floor. "Ow! Yie!" He winces a couple of times as thorns begin to form on the vines, stabbing him in so many places on his legs. Rosie chuckles darkly, but her deceased husband has a different reaction.
"Don't do this Rosie! He's only a kid!" Franklin demands. The witch faces him evilly.
"And why should I care?" She asks. The vines start to wrap around Douglas's arms, and he feels two of them dig their way into his arm and a poison enters his bloodstream.
"AAAAAHHHHH!" The holy teenager shouts in agony. Tears come to his eyes and blood begins to escape his arms.
"You can scream all you want little boy, not even God can hear you now!" Rosie says evilly. Franklin quickly hovers over to the bible on the floor and begins reading it aloud.
"Do not withhold your mercy to this young boy O Lord. May your love and your truth always protect him." The warlock reads in a prayerful tone. Douglas stops screaming, continuing to wince reflexively. He manages to open his eyes.
"Hm?" He hums questioningly. Rosie squeezes her hand, causing the vines to bind him harder. "MM!" He hums even louder in pain, gritting his teeth.
"As I said once, God isn't here for you, and he's not coming no matter how hard you pray!" She exclaims. Franklin continues.
"Surely God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid." He looks up at Douglas. "And neither should you holy child." He states. Douglas continues to wince and groan, but his blood cells regenerate and fill in for what he's already lost. Maybe he has more stamina than he thought. Rosie glares at Franklin.
"Will you stop reading that wretched book?! It's disturbing my mind!" She shouts, casting a fireball his direction. Franklin grabs the book and swiftly steps back, avoiding the fire and keeping the book unharmed as well. He flips a few pages and continues reading.
"So please say with confidence, The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid." Douglas gathers his strength and stops wincing.
"The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid." He repeats. His skin grows a little thicker, and the thorns begin to lose their venomous effect.
"Silence already!" She says as she casts a dark spell at him. Franklin swiftly turns around and produces a white barrier, blocking the evil power. The witch gasps as the warlock turns toward her and flips the pages.
"Never Rosie, as the Lord once said to Paul; Do not be afraid, keep on speaking, do not be silent." He says as he turns to Douglas. "Teach me your way O Lord, and I will walk in your truth." He says. At this point, Douglas has the strength to move his arms. Though the vines are still inserted into his arm veins, his life energy is no longer being sapped, nor can he even feel it very much anymore. "Ouch!" Rosie quickly slashes Franklin's spirit with a dark claw. He falls on the floor and desperately holds onto the bible.
"Give me that stupid book!" She shouts. Franklin leans over the bible to keep it safe from her. Douglas watches as the two fight over the bible, not even three feet away from where he's trapped. "This stupid novel must be destroyed!" She shouts as she summons a large ball of fire. Franklin reads through the final page he's on really fast.
"Into your hands, I commit my spirit! Redeem me O Lord, the God of truth!" He exclaims loudly before a large ball of fire is brought down on the book, burning it to disintegration. Douglas gathers the strength to reach into his pocket and grab a small flask, ignoring the searing pain of the vines in his veins.
"Hey Rosie, look at me!" He shouts as he begins to rapidly shake the clear flask in his hands. The witch faces him, generating another ball of darkness.
"You pathetic child, you shall not-" her sentence is cut short as the cap of the flask is pried off and a sudden wave of purified liquid squirts her in the face. "AAAAHHHH!" She instantly screams as a few sizzling sounds are heard. "WHAT DID YOU THROW AT ME?!" She screams fearfully. The young warrior gives her a savage glare.
"Holy water." He says in a casual tone. "I felt an evil witch like you needed some purification." He says. The witch continues to whine softly as her flesh begins to melt, causing her to get smaller by the second.
"OH! What a world!" She exclaims as her legs disappear entirely, followed by her arms. "What... a... worl..." Her voice is gone and she's perished before she can finish her sentence. All that remains is Rosie's large stylish hat. Moments later, the vines begin to glow bright white, and a new fluid enters Douglas's bloodstream. Right after, the vines leave his arms and then slowly unravel off of his body, re-entering the ground. The young warrior exhales deeply as the pain in his body finally subsides.
"Those who use dark magic meet a dark fate. A Rosie by any other name is no exception." He states as he grabs a pen from the potion zone and pulls out his list. He places a large X over Rosie's photo, relieved he's survived another fight.
"Why, my beloved son, thank you extremely for your deed." Douglas turns around to see Franklin standing there. His spirit isn't in it's demonic or even normal human form. He has a halo and two angel's wings. "You have saved me from a dark curse my wife trapped me under." He says thankfully. Douglas smiles and steps closer to the deceased warlock.
"You're welcome, Franklin." He responds happily. "I'm glad to see you're safe now. And I pray you can finally rest in peace now." He says passionately. Franklin smiles and pats him on the shoulder.
"I sure hope so, I was sent to Hell because I tried to curse so many people while I was alive. I just had too much hate in my heart." He says. "But when I pledged my heart to Rosie, I never expected her to oppress me so harshly. I learned exactly what true pain felt like, pain that I'd wished upon so many people. I prayed for harm upon others." He says in shame. Douglas sighs.
"I'm really sorry to hear that sir." He says sympathetically. Franklin looks away shamefully.
"Perhaps I'm doomed. God has no reason to forgive a harsh sinner like me. Though I tried to change for the better, I'm not worthy of forgiveness." The warlock says. Douglas gently attempts to embrace him, failing due to him being a spirit.
"It's okay Franklin, I forgive you. You endured so much agony, and used every bit of strength you had to save me from your demented wife." He says as he points to the sky out the window. "Now make your way to Heaven humble sir. God awaits you for a retrial. If you're as genuine as you've shown me, God will happily accept you into Heaven for eternal rest." The man smiles coyly.
"You really believe so?" He asks.
"I guarantee it," Douglas says. Franklin sheds a few joyful tears.
"Bless you Douglas Knox. You're such a heroic and saintly child. The Lord was very wise to create you and grant you your humble holy powers." He says as he looks up. "I hope to see you soon. Goodbye son." He says as his wings lift him off the ground. He flies through the ceiling and departs into Heaven.
"Good luck Franklin." He says while waving, only to notice something unusual within his arms. "Why do I feel... wet?" He wonders.
Author's Note: Well that was certainly a lot of fun to write. I sure hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much, if not more than many of the others! Thank you all for reading, and have a nice day!
P.S. I haven't received any reviews in a while. Though I don't wanna sound like I'm begging for them, a little feedback always motivates me. If anyone has any comments thus far, I'd be more than happy to hear them. :)
Deceased:
Rosie