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 Eight: Temptations Are Illusion

Alice awoke to the most horrible sound she had ever heard in her entire life.

It was almost like a sound of an infant being tortured, that was how horrible she could compare to the noise. Jolting from her bed, she raced down the darkened hallway, bumping into a few walls with a few angry swears before she was led toward the basement; the source of the sound.

It was still very dark, but there was some light shining in through cracks in the windows and Alice could see the Cenobites standing in a circle around something. When they saw her approaching, they stepped out of the way so that she could see what was going on. When she hurried to the center of the gathering, she was shocked to find Nikoletta on one knee before Pinhead, her face a shadowed mask of pain. His fingers were jammed brutally into her gaping throat wound and they were twisting the tendons and flesh horribly. She made no further sounds at the painful punishment, just silently endured it as she would.

"What are you doing?" Alice cried.

Pinhead's darkened gaze flickered up to her. There was something in his eyes that Alice couldn't quite figure out just yet. Something akin to emotion, but she couldn't quite tell in this light. "Setting the example to the rest of them here, Alice," he told her, "She broke a rule. A rule that she was quite familiar with."

"What did she do?" Alice demanded, her voice nearly hysterical.

The Cenobites looked at Pinhead, somewhat surprised by Alice's concern and wondering just how he would take that. He just smiled at her question and looked down at the Cenobite. "Nikoletta was perfectly aware of the fact that no human is to know of our mission unless deemed worthy enough to do so. She gave you information that should never have been given to you. And so, she must pay the price."

"It wasn't her fault!" Alice shouted, "Please, stop it! She doesn't deserve that!"

Pinhead blinked once, twice before his brow puckered at the woman's words. He seemed confused and startled by her sympathy toward the Cenobite female, unsure almost. Slowly, he released his fingers from Nikoletta's throat wound and turned toward Alice, that same confused look on his face.

"How unusual ... "

Alice began to step away as he moved silently toward her. "What is?" she asked, cautiously.

"A human woman ... who sympathizes with one of our own ... " Pinhead mused, the corners of his mouth twitching, as if he was near to laughter, "Yet she looks upon her own race with such disdain ... " He grinned now. "Interesting indeed."

His eyes seemed to search her own for something. While her gaze was defiant and full of many different emotions, his was empty and pitiless. And yet he still smiled. "You are... quite a fascinating creature to me, Alice Cotton."

Alice wavered beneath his powerful, almost sensual stare. She looked over toward Nikoletta who was now standing again, staring at her with the same amount of confusion that was once registered on the Lead Cenobite's face. Almost anger and wounded pride at having to be a pity card for a human being. Alice cautiously and slowly walked up to the first floor and she opened her front door to get a breath of fresh morning air. She glanced down and noticed that there was a small package laying there. It was wrapped poorly with newspaper.

Frowning, Alice picked it up and carried it inside.

"Oh. Is that another offering from the fool?"

Pinhead's voice came from somewhere in the room, but she didn't bother looking up to find out where. There was a small sticker with a message scribbled onto it. It was from Kevin. Alice smiled warmly as she read it:

Hope you feel better.

Sorry about the crappy paper job.

Maybe this will help with bad dreams.

~Kevin.

Alice unwrapped the package and she pulled out a beautifully crafted dream catcher. There were beads of every shape and size, feathers and a lovely eagle carved in wood inside the web. Alice was touched by the gift. She just smiled and ran her fingertips over the feathers. Pinhead watched her with dismay and disgust at the sight. What made mankind fawn over silly little trinkets with no magical properties whatsoever was beyond him.

"Such a trifle object brings you a meaningless joy?" he sneered, "Pity ... "

Alice glared at him, but did not retort on the matter. She picked up the object and began to make her way upstairs, no doubt taking it to her bedroom, but not before calling down to him. "I guess that's what makes me human then."

Pinhead chuckled softly to himself. Alice Cotton was in denial. He knew it very well. And yet, what always bothered him was the fact that she still grasped onto her humanity for so long. It was beyond even his comprehension. Maybe she was trying to hold on to a past long forgotten or maybe she feared his future. My, what a fascinating girl indeed ... So many conflicting feelings, yet at the same time, so much promise.

Later that night, Alice had to work late cleaning up at the hospital. As a janitor, it left much to be desired, but her job payed her quite a bit of money and arguing about it would be just ridiculous. After all, late at night meant few people and few people meant no taunts or teasing to worry about. And the one thing that Alice liked to do the most was listen to her music on her iPad as she swept down the hallways.

She took a pause and closed her eyes, thinking about what the Cenobites had told her. She thought about what happened to the female, worried about why he had done what he did to her. Protocol yeah, but why did he look so angry about it? His eyes ... so dark. Alice could stare at them and become lost in his eyes without even thinking; those black, endless depths of eternity. When she thought about it, a smile lit her face and her chest prickled with strange heat. She had never felt such a feeling before and it only happened when she thought about them - no, HIM.

Alice snapped out of her gaze and frustratingly swept with harsher, uneven strokes. How utterly ridiculous this was! It was just his temptations! His evil ways! She couldn't fall prey to them now! She had to focus and fight him.

O

"Alice!"

The voice had come from one of the night watchmen standing ahead from an adjacent hallway. She exhaled with relief when she saw him.

"Time to clock out, girl!"

Alice chuckled and nodded. "Right."

She quickly clocked out and departed for her vehicle in the hospital parking lot. There weren't many cars here this late at night as everyone had gone home. As soon as she arrived at her car, a man slammed his weight into her and she started to cry out, but a greasy, dirty hand slapped over her mouth to prevent any of that. Alice's wide eyes looked up into a set of blue, cruel ones. He looked to have been homeless or just a filthy asshole who lurked around in the shadows preying on people.

"You scream and you're dead!" he hissed.

Alice struggled beneath his great strength and she succeeded in delivered a swift kick to his groin, causing him to grunt out in pain and release his grip onto her. She took the chance to reach for her bat located in her car, but he recovered quickly and just as she looked over, he delivered a right hook which cracked her right in the face and Alice was down. The man snarled angrily down at her, kicking her a few times in the ribs for good measure before he peered into her car, looking for anything of use; money, objects of particular value.

As he was searching, Alice slowly regained consciousness, groaning softly. The man hissed cruelly and towered over her. His stinking hot breath smelled like chili dogs and beer. "You think you're so tough, huh, bitch?" he spat, his hands seizing her throat and squeezing hard. "You're gonna die like your fucking slut friend!"

Alice tried to pry the hands from her neck, but her world was slowly darkening around her and her eyes rolled up in her head. Her head felt light and weightless. She was choking, suffocating. Dying. This deranged madman was going to kill her. She didn't even hear what he had said about her friend, Katie. Her ears were roaring with blood and her eyes stinging with tears. He was so strong and her struggles were starting to weaken.

I'm going to die. I'm going to die ...

She was barely alive to the real world when the man was violently yanked from her body with a terrified scream. She barely heard the tormented, dying screams of her assailant and the wet, warm blood that splashed her face. There were horrible, furious snarling sounds from some unholy being and finally, dead silence. Alice barely heard footsteps approaching her, barely felt arms scooping beneath her and lifting her to what felt like a warm chest. Alice was so far from reality, so dizzy from her pain that she couldn't see her savior.

"Mmm ... " she mumbled, "Kevin?"

The arms holding her tightened slightly at the name and spoke a single word. "No."

Alice squinted through her haze of pain to see his face, but her eyes could not focus through her pain. She smiled regardless of the blood that stained her lips and nose. She reached up with one hand and held onto him. Her savior, Pinhead in Barry's flesh watched the girl close her eyes. His eyes fixed on her lips as she said two simple words:

"Thank you."

Alice wasn't too sure when she started dreaming, or even when she had slept. But she dreamed. And oh, was it a dream.

Alice was in her bedroom and she was lying in bed, being touched beneath the cool, night bedsheets by an unseen lover. She heard the rustling of fabric, felt warm hands gently stroking her spine. Her lover stood behind her, slowly moving feather - light touches down her back. Her eyes fluttered open and she let her breath stream out as her head dropped back. Inexperienced even in dreams, the pleasure felt real, the touch real. Even the gentle breeze that swirled her hair and curtains felt real.

"Alice ... "

The man behind her breathed her name with hunger, love and desire. It was Kevin's voice. Yet for some strange reason, she would not look back at him and he would not let her. She was melting beneath the warm muscular form crouched over her like a hungry predator.

Alice had never felt what it was like to make love. To taste his hands against her lips, to feel every touch and sensation so gentle, yet enough to overwhelm her completely. Her heart seemed to swell, making her chest feel tight with need and pleasure.

She leaned her head back, found his lips and kissed him to the best of her ability. She was rewarded with a strangled, animal-like groan that broke from deep within him. His mouth parted from hers and moved down the length of her neck. Alice gasped as she felt her stomach flip and her body tremor violently. His teeth pressed harshly into her flesh and she gasped out his name with wild abandon, bucking back against him. The sharp pain that lanced through her from his bite was enough pleasure to draw a desperate moan to follow.

"You taste divine, Alice ... " he whispered, a hidden power there in his voice.

And then, something drew a sudden wave of realization through the pleasure-hazed woman. His face, when she looked back at him; it was wrong. His eyes were wrong and his words were wrong. He spoke with a hidden power that she should have realized before. Only when she looked at him hard enough did she understand that she had been making love to another man entirely. His hands suddenly felt cold against her flesh and yet, Alice could not resist. She had no will of her own, no strength to fight the overwhelming tide of sensations.

She looked into Kevin's eyes and was horrified to discover that they were dark pools of endless black. Her own eyes widened in horror and he smiled at her. There was a foreign, unholy touch to his smile that snapped her out of her dream.

O

"She is so weak ... Humans break so easily these days."

"Keep quiet. Let the Surgeon work ... "

"You could have been seen."

"But I was not. So the situation resolved itself."

Alice opened her groggy eyes and noticed that she was back in her bed and a frightening face leered down at her. It was a Cenobite, but his eyes were permanently locked open with a metal headpiece that also stretched his mouth open in a permanent grimace. She gasped out with shock and tried to scoot away, but one of his hands pressed harshly down onto her chest to hold her still. He was stitching up a small wound on her neck and her moving had almost opened it up again. Alice winced in pain and looked over her shoulder to see Pinhead and the others standing there. There seemed to be more new Cenobites.

"What is he doing?" she demanded, through her tattered lip, "Make him stop!"

Pinhead shook his head impatiently at her cries. "Be calm, Alice," he ordered, "He is tending to your wounds. You will be fine."

The Pistonhead Cenobite was among the new arrivals. He smirked cruelly down at Alice, moving around the bed to get a better view. "Hey, Angelique was right!" he hissed, "You're small, but kinda cute!" He reached out to touch her, but Pinhead's hand came down just as fast and seized his wrist in a tight and rather wicked hold.

"Know this; she is mine, servant," he hissed, menacingly, "The last fool who tried to touch her lost more than just a hand."

Pistonhead licked his lips before he warily backed off and raised two hands in a defensive, yet irritable gesture. "Sure, sure. Take it easy, boss."

Alice blinked at the knowledge and she lied there, staring at the ceiling, trying to recall what had happened to her in the parking lot. Pinhead could read the thoughtfulness on her face and he cocked his head to one side.

"Do you recall anything?" he asked.

Alice sucked in a sharp breath once the Surgeon ripped the small thread. She tenderly touched the wound and smiled up at the Cenobite. "Uh, thanks." she told him. "Good stitch job."

The Surgeon nodded his head once, acknowledging the woman's words, before gliding from the room as quietly as they often went. Alice looked to the rest of the mismatched, sliced and elegantly decorated faces as they watched her; some looked skeptical and others looked impressed.

"Why are you staring at me?" she asked.

Nikoletta was standing behind the Chatterer and the Raven. She tilted her head to one side and spoke softly, eerily. "You do not know?"

Alice studied the blank, hollow faces and she was wondering why they were quiet. They seemed to have been waiting for something because even Angelique was watching the bedroom door. Her smile wasn't particularly a pleasant one either. She looked to be up to something, but then again, she ALWAYS looked that way. Pinhead looked at the watching Cenobites and gestured briskly with one hand for them to depart.

They drifted out of the room one-by-one before the door closed on its own. Pinhead remained, studying the girl with vague interest. She frowned back at him before looking down at her arm and then back up at him.

"You ... it was you who saved me?"

"Hm. How presumptuous."

Alice struggled to sit up and she touched her neck where the stitching's were. There was worry and doubt in her eyes, which made the Lead Cenobite laugh at her. "Don't fret, girl," he sneered, "It wasn't as if we'd placed anything unpleasant inside of you. If we wanted to, we could have done so while you were awake and able to feel every single thing..."

"Why did you save my life?" Alice asked, interrupting him in mid - monologue.

"I have told you," Pinhead responded, "You are mine. No filthy fool will dare lay a hand on what belongs to me."

Alice almost smiled. It sort of sounded like a compliment, but she wasn't going to bet money on that. "Uh ... thanks. I think ... "

"Well then, why don't you sleep?" the Cenobite replied, "You will have visitors shortly. No doubt the human law enforcement who wish to speak with you about the situation. I must depart for now. My pet will keep a watch over you in the meantime."

"Hang on," Alice said, worried about the consequences of the situation now, "So you just killed that guy?"

He tsked at Alice's wavered expression and gestured with one hand for the Chatter Beast to emerge. "I'm bored with this prattle. Now sleep."

Alice warily watched the Chatter Beast move heavily across the bedroom to her bedside. When she looked up again, the Cenobite leader was gone this time. What was going to happen now? And more importantly, what would it do for her? The Chatter Beast gave a low, warbling sound that resembled a belch before it rested its paws against its face. A smell like decayed flesh filled the air and the woman nearly wretched at it.

"Sick ... " she mumbled.

Labyrinth

Pinhead moved silently down the stone corridors toward the Leviathan's sector; the God drifting monotonously in his ever-turning circle. Two Cenobites were standing among him, engaged in conversation. The Dreamer and Balberith. They looked up at the sight of Pinhead arriving and quickly straightened where they stood. The sounds of the damned souls screaming were the only sounds amid the silence between each other.

"My Lord, you've returned?" Balberith said, surprised.

The Dreamer smirked at him and took a casual inhale of her cigarette. "Did she scream a lot? Oh! Was there a lot of blood this time?" She laughed and then realized that Pinhead didn't share her amusement before she quickly hushed up, clearing her asthmatic throat awkwardly.

"Both of you, leave," he commanded, "I have to share my thoughts alone with our God."

"But - " the Dreamer protested.

"OUT!" Pinhead bellowed.

The two Cenobites quickly departed, sensing that their leader was in no mood to trifle with them this time. The Dreamer was mumbling angrily to her companion. "Dammit, we always have to leave when something good goes down!"

Pinhead lifted his gaze toward the towering behemoth. "My Lord, I have come upon your request."

When Leviathan spoke this time, it was through the very mind of Pinhead himself. His words were dark, chilling and powerful in the Cenobite's thoughts. That was their connection, their personal traits among one another. When leviathan spoke, Pinhead would listen, yet maintain his own will as he spoke with his God. It was the perks of being the favorite. "MY SON. WHY DO YOU SEEM SO ILL OF HEART? YOU HAVE FOLLOWED MY INSTRUCTIONS TO THE LETTER. I SENSE ALICE'S WILL BREAKING."

"I am not ill of heart, my Lord, I am ill of soul," he told him, "She desires my own being without the knowledge of knowing it. Her mind offers what her lips do not speak. And for a time, I was tempted by her offer."

The Leviathan sounded almost amused. "HOW LONG A TIME?"

"0.68 seconds sir. For a Cenobite, that is nearly an eternity."

"INDEED. YOU HAVE DONE WELL. THIS IS WHAT I HAVE FORESEEN."

Pinhead looked briefly confused. "My Lord?"

"IT IS TIME THAT I TELL YOU YOU NOW; ALICE'S NAME IN OUR BOOKS IS OF NO MERE COINCIDENCE, CHILD. IF SHE COMES WILLINGLY TO ME, MY SISTER CANNOT HOPE TO BE FREE FROM HER PRISON. IT IS ALICE WHO WILL GUARANTEE THAT."

"How?" the Cenobite asked.

"MORTE MAMME BELIEVES THAT NO CHILD WILL CHOOSE ETERNAL DAMNATION OVER SALVATION. BUT SHE WILL BE PROVEN WRONG."