Ex Inferis

The End

The corpses began to stink on the fourth day. The cats disappeared on the eighth.

The Beginning

It was Ahi’s idea. He’d found a page neatly tucked in a book he’d ordered online. It was odd, considering the book was vacuum sealed. The store he’d ordered from knew nothing. He’d shown it to Tesh. She recognized Latin and had an eerie feeling that she was living through a low-budget horror movie.

“Nothing good ever comes from Latin written on mysterious yellowed pages,” Tesh told Ahi, but she felt like the words were meant more for her own self than for him.

“Tonight, Jet’s basement, his parents are going to town” Ahi’s invitation to Zym was pretty concise. He knew she’d be there. “Bring some snacks. It’ll probably be a laugh and we’ll end up watching a movie.”

“I’m in,” Zym replied. What else was she going to do on a Friday night?

Tesh & Jet had already been roped in – that was a default. They’d been friends with Ahi too long to know he never asked, only informed.

The Middle

Candles glowed around the basement. One candle, stuck to the ground, flickered dangerously as they sat down around it. Ahi, with all reverence, handed the faded yellow paper to Tesh who was beginning to find this whole “summoning” creepy and exciting. “Repeat after me, I guess.”

Reges tenebris, Reges mortis,
Ausculta me, Parere me,
Ambulate per ignem.
Ambulate in pruina.
Haec porta per ambulare.
Libera te ex inferis!
Libera te ex inferis!
Libera te ex …

The candle flame leapt into the air, prompting a squeak from big-boned Zym.

“Do you smell that?”, Jet had his nose scrunched, sniffing the air. Like a bloodhound. “Is that caramel? I thought demons were supposed to smell like sulphur and rot.”

“Most of us do, but I like the finer things.” The voice, sultry, amused, came from all around them – disembodied and dizzying. “I am, as you said, dearest Tesh, a ‘King’ of Darkness.”

How does she know my name?! Tesh knew better than to ask this question out loud, it would’ve been too cliche.

“Yes, it would’ve been cliche, darling. You already know the answer.”

I had said the words, I summoned her.

And with that thought, Tesh was no longer in the basement, no longer with her friends. She was standing on a path paved with purple bricks, surrounded by lavenders, foxgloves, and gladioli. A woman stood on the path, a hand outstretched towards her. Don’t talk to strangers. But this woman didn’t seem strange. She looked nymph-ish in her sheer lilac dress and she exuded warmth and safety. As Tesh came closer and took her outstretched hand, the woman drew her in and kissed her. It drowned out all conscious thought and tasted of blueberries.

The End, continued

Ahi was the first to realize Tesh wasn’t Tesh anymore – but only when she thrust both hands into his chest, grabbing a rib each. She pulled his chest apart, rib by rib. How am I still alive?! was all he could think by the end, the pain had already become white noise. Silence came only when she buried her face in the bloody cavity of his chest and bit out a piece of his heart.

The others tried to run. They managed to stumble up the basement stairs, run through the corridor into the entryway and out the main door. Only to find Tesh, who was no longer Tesh, standing in front of them. Hair stuck to the blood that covered her face, that dripped down her chin and onto her “I’m A Rebel” t-shirt. Their story ended there – but not abruptly. Nobody had ever taught her not to play with her food.

Tesh, who was not Tesh, spent seven sleepless days roaming the town. Devouring anything that breathed – slowly splitting open flesh, drinking fresh blood, carrying around pieces of flesh in her pocket for snacks. By the eighth morning, all that was left in town was Tesh, who would never be Tesh again, and the cats, who fed on her leftovers. After seven days of tireless engorging on succulent human flesh, Tesh walked to the bottom of the lake, the cats followed her only to the edge. She sleeps there still, the cats keeping vigil around the lake in twos and sometimes threes.