Hellraiser: Beyond the Gates of Hell

Disclaimer: Well, well, well... My first Hellraiser fic. Look at that. It's about time I did one of these. Remember this, readers: I take CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, but not flamers. So kindly step away if you feel such an urge. This story is going to be written for the fun in it, but I have done as much research as one can. Clive Barker owns all things flesh and blood in Hellraiser, but I own the plot and the few characters he DIDN'T make. Well, since I got the okay, I want to dedicate this fic to laura 101 and Blue Kitsune. They're real hardcore Hellraiser romance fans! Gotta love that!

"The flesh endures the storms of the present alone, the mind those of the past and future as well as the present."

-Epicurus

"Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it."

-Thomas Jefferson

By: VampireQueenAkasha

We have such sights to show you...

Chapter Six: Virtues

"Shit!"

Alice sucked in a sharp breath of pain as she accidentally sliced her open palm with the dinner knife; it was probably the worst thing in the world for her to do right now, given her situation. Kevin thought that it would be fun to hang out at the park. The least that she could do was meet him half way given he had paid for her dinner that night.

The sound seemed to rouse the Cenobite from the basement because Nikoletta was there immediately. But not because of her concern for Alice's well being, but because of her concern for keeping with the Leviathan's orders. "Child, what happened?"

"Your concern is touching," Alice answered, her voice quite sarcastic. She moved across the kitchen to grab a small first aid kit in the drawers. The blood was dripping menacingly from her hand and onto the counter top. Little did she notice that it had drawn the fascinated attention of the Cenobite.

Nikoletta slowly moved, almost transfixed by the sight. She reached out and touched Alice's blood on the table with two fingers. While the human's back was turned from her, angrily searching for gauze and spray, Nikoletta carried the blood to her mouth. The Cenobite closed her eyes and she felt an intense sensation worming through her chest like nothing she had ever felt since the first time she had experienced the Labyrinth itself. Sheer unadulterated pleasure.

Virgin blood.

Nikoletta had not had the pleasure of sampling such pure, unspoiled blood in so long that she had almost forgotten what it tasted like. Her control was pulled so taut that it threatened to break and she clenched her fist tightly at her belt, where her weapons of torture rested. Her fingers ached to take the sharpest tool, slice Alice to ribbons and drink every last drop like the Primordial Ones before her. Alice turned and frowned at her, wrapping her hand up. She noticed the peculiar look of focus on the Cenobite's face and she tilted her head. Her chest suddenly felt the instinctive pulse of fear even though she didn't know why.

"What?" she asked.

Nikoletta took a deep inhale and it sounded terrible through that breathy voice. It made her sound higher than usual and weaker. "I ... I must rest ... " she murmured, turning and disappearing from the kitchen to the basement like a shadow. Her movement were hasty and desperate almost, as if she was eager to escape the girl's proximity as soon as possible.

Rest? Now Alice had heard everything.

But that made no difference to her right now; this moment was for her to have a good time. She hadn't had one of those since Katie's 18th birthday party when she actually had Toby Keith come in and play music for her birthday. Her parents were pretty wealthy, so it never surprised her in the least that they could afford the singer. But now, now was the time to spend with a normal person; not that her friend wasn't normal, she just craved a change.

She would prove to them that she didn't need their ways, or their offer either. The demons would be very disappointed.

Meanwhile, Nikoletta was lingering in the basement, facing Pinhead with a weakened expression. He furrowed his great brow at her, unused to seeing her in such a condition. "What is it that troubles you, Nikoletta?" he asked, "Can you not handle the girl?"

"Her blood ... I have tasted her blood by mere accident, my lord," the Cenobite answered, wearily. "I wanted to rend her very flesh to ribbons. It was so very sweet ... I had to leave for fear of failing the Leviathan's orders and killing her."

"I see," Pinhead smiled, pleased with her restraint although intrigued by how Alice's blood would taste to him, "Where is she now?"

"She leaves for the park, my Lord," Nikoletta answered, her eyes moving toward the blocked window of the basement, "She is meeting that fool for a morning lunch, I presume."

"Good."

O

Alice and Kevin were sitting alone by the fountain of the park while they were eating some salads that she had brought and chicken wings. Kevin had brought a radio with him and it was quietly playing Lynard Skynard's "What's Your Name".

"So ... you used to be a dancer?" Kevin asked, pouring some more barbecue sauce on his chicken wings.

"Yeah, I used to love dancing up until I started high school," Alice replied, "I used to be really good at it too. I even won a few trophies for some talent shows and contests. Mom used to say that I was an angel up on the stage."

Kevin smiled, impressed. "Really? That's great! So why'd you quit?"

"I dunno ... " Alice answered, her voice changing now, "I guess because my mom seem to have just stopped caring about it. She was so worried about other more important things that since she stopped caring, then I guess I did too."

Kevin sucked his teeth in a very thoughtful gesture. "Well, you seem to put a lot of blame on your mom, Alice," he said, "I don't think that's 100 percent fair, you know. You shouldn't stop something that you're good at because it seems like people don't care. I mean, who gives a shit, right? People are idiots."

Alice chuckled softly and she wanted to believe that were true; that Kevin's words were meaningful. But years of being isolated made it difficult to really let her guard down a full way. It would just take time. Time that she hoped he would spend.

"Yeah ... I guess so."

Behind her, "Barry" was slowly approaching the scene and Kevin noticed it before she did. "Hey, who's that guy?" he asked.

"Hello, Alice, it's quite a coincidence that I'd meet you here."

When he spoke, Alice's eyes widened with mute horror and she slowly turned to face the smirking "man" standing there. Kevin didn't realize the significance of Alice and Barry's relationship, so he simply stared at the woman curiously.

"Alice, do you know this guy?" he asked.

Alice smirked angrily and spoke between clenched teeth. "Yes. This is Barry Miller. My lawyer who has become a severe PAIN IN MY ASS lately."

Pinhead laughed heartily. "Oh Alice, if I were to be any significant source of your pain, your rectum would certainly not be the first place I'd start!"

"Go away!" Alice snarled, fiercely in a dropped voice.

"Why should I?"

Kevin scratched the back of his neck and his body language told the demon that he was getting uncomfortable with the confrontation. "Uh Alice, I should probably get going ... " he told her, sheepishly. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"No, Kevin, don't go," Alice told him, gently. She glared at the demon in disguise and spoke coldly. "Barry was just leaving."

"I was not."

Now Kevin sensed a potential problem. He stood close to "Barry" and pointed a finger at his chest. "Hey, I think the lady asked you to leave," he snapped.

Pinhead's gaze wandered between the two glaring faces and he just chuckled softly to himself. The task was not to cause problems, so he would back down for now. He gave Alice a deadly look that meant he would continue with this later.

To be continued ... Alice ...

His powerful, sensual voice filling her head nearly swayed her off of her feet and she sat down quickly, rubbing the bridge of her nose to try and rid herself of the bizarre, tingling sensation. It felt as if he had stripped her naked to the very bone and touched in every single nerve ending of her body. It wasn't a pleasant feeling but it wasn't exactly the worst feeling in the world either. It was like she had stepped into a freezer and immediately sat in front of a fire.

"Jesus, he's supposed to be your lawyer?" Kevin said, "It doesn't seem to me that you even have the liking for each other."

Alice felt the strangest urge to tell him everything that was going on. No, don't do that. You don't want this guy thinking you're a freak, do you?

But the fact of the matter was, she was still alone in this problem. Demons in the basement weren't exactly a way to improve social status, but she had to get help somehow. Looking at Kevin with a weary smile, she shrugged her shoulders.

"That's Barry for you," she told him, "He's a royal asshole."

Pinhead observed the happy moment with a sneer on his face. How much joy do the weak crave? How much would it take for Alice to suffer for her to realize that she was destined for hell? He had to change the playing field a bit. The boy, Kevin would have to be seen as a traitor, a little player to her. Oh but how would he go about that? Pinhead's attention was suddenly focused on a physically attractive woman passing by, pushing a stroller with her little spawn sleeping inside of it. The way she smiled at Kevin and the way he acknowledged with a smile of his own ...

He smiled fiendishly.

The evening came entirely too fast for Alice. She didn't want it to end between her and Kevin; she had just too much fun with him, just talking and laughing to one another as they walked down the darkened streets, walking toward Alice's car.

"I should get going," Alice told him, "I have work tomorrow."

"Yeah, I should get on my way too," Kevin agreed, a happy smile on his face. He turned so that he faced her. "So, would you be interested in checking out the Paris Opera and Orchestra tomorrow night?"

Alice laughed, amused. She arched a single eyebrow at him. "I don't really like opera."

"Me neither, but you're going to be with me, so who really cares?" Kevin joked.

Alice felt her cheeks growing hot and she smiled, glancing down at the street. "True."

The pair lingered there for several long moments before Alice shyly moved away and climbed into her car. She gave Kevin a sheepish smile and started up the engine, accidentally turning on her radio full blast and quickly shutting it off. He laughed softly as he watched her pull away, waving after her. As soon as she disappeared around a distant street corner, a hand came down onto his shoulder; not a particularly friendly one either.

It was Barry - Pinhead.

"She is quite the find, isn't she?" the demon-in-disguise sighed, "But I am afraid that she has already been taken."

Kevin rolled his eyes and laughed impatiently. "What do you want?"

"Oh, I'd say that I am happy for you, but that would be lying, now wouldn't it?" Pinhead said, sneering in his words.

Kevin turned and faced him with his chest slightly flared. "Look, whatever you got up your ass about me or Alice, I think you need to clear it out right now," he told him, "Back off, leave her alone or the better least, get a decent attitude."

Pinhead smiled down at him and placed a tight grip around the man's shoulders. "Come my friend, let me buy you a drink."

Kevin was not particularly comfortable with his choice of place-a strip club where they were surrounded with women, howling drunken men and liquor. Pinhead didn't mind the atmosphere all too much. It reminded him of the pagan days of wailing druids and crazed witches.

Now THOSE were good times!

"I guess this is the kind of thing that you enjoy doing, Barry?" Kevin guessed, skeptically leaning against the bar end and taking a drink of his glass of vodka, "Picking up strippers and paying them top notch dollars to get you off?"

Pinhead laughed. "Oh do not pretend that you haven't indulged in the most pleasurable of sins, dear boy," he hissed, taking a drink from his glass. He smiled at a near-naked woman who passed him with a tray of glasses. "Take in all of this flesh! All of this...opportunity."

Kevin chuckled dryly. "Yeah, I've seen plenty of it to know that it's all just the same skin. Women aren't just fuck toys, you know."

"Certainly not," Pinhead answered, "What's INSIDE of them is so much more precious."

The words that hissed out of him like some hungry predator made Kevin stare at him with a wary frown. "You sure have peculiar tastes ... Barry."

Pinhead could sense that this boy immediately felt concerned for Alice's sake. He was wondering just what kind of man this lawyer could be fore her; what good would he serve. This was no foolish child. He doubted his intentions, be covered up as they were.

"Heh. Peculiar tastes? Well, that could be called by many a man foolish enough not to understand them or cowardly enough to avoid experiencing them personally," he replied, "What about you, Kevin? Which are you?"

The two looked up toward the center stage where a stripper in a blackened robe began dancing erotically through a circle of fire surrounding the stage. Kevin was no doubt impressed by the sight and Pinhead could see that. He smiled broadly and leaned forward, his voice horribly close.

"Look at her, Kevin," he hissed, "Look at her smooth, perfect flesh, her soft, unsoiled hair, those luscious lips... Such a perfect shape for a true, delicious woman. You would love to have a creature like that, wouldn't you?"

Kevin seemed slightly mesmerized by the flames, not entirely on the woman moving there. Pinhead's voice was practically droning in his ear; a dark, heavy sound that filled his ears and reached into his brain like a dark, bleeding claw.

"Huh. Yeah, she is pretty hot, huh?" he agreed, half - heartedly.

"Would you enjoy having sex with her, Kevin?" Pinhead sneered, changing the entire mood from sensual to just plain vulgar, seeing just how far he could push the man from Alice and closer to his own personal sins, "I bet that you would. Alice would not satisfy your needs. She is a shy and bitter creature. She would not give you what you want, what you deserve. Just give up on her and have fun with REAL women. It's what you want, isn't it?" He chuckled cruelly. "Leave Alice to me. I don't think that she'd mind too much if I touched her."

Kevin's smile disappeared and he whirled on the man furiously. Pinhead smirked and he could sense the fury clouding the boy's judgement quickly. Oh! He had quite a temper on him. A history of aggression and impatience. He was fooling himself in believing that he could change to suit others, to suit himself.

"Oh, yes, I have touched Alice, boy," he hissed, "I enjoy how she feels and knowing that you will never have her or know what that is like."

Kevin glared at him before he calmed and the fire in his eyes disappeared. He gave Pinhead a half-cocky and relaxed smile. "We do it on my terms, asshole, not on yours." And with that, he quickly stormed out of the strip club.

Pinhead watched him go and let a portion of his humanity slip; his voice burst forth with a frustrated, inhuman snarl.