Seven Beasts (Haremworld)

When I got to a closed door at the back of the house, I could hear voices from the other side. It sounded like they were chanting. My hands pushed against the door, but it didn’t budge. I hit it with my palms several times and could feel it cracking, so I took a step back and slammed my shoulder into it. The door flew open and I found two women standing in the middle of the room. The emerald eyes I saw at the window fixated on me and I could see that she was surrounded by some sort of eerie green glow.

“You...” My words got stuck in my throat. “You really are witches!”

“Which is very unfortunate for you.” The emerald eyed woman laughed.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do this. It was a mistake.” I held up my hands and started to back up from where they were.

“This is your fault.” She narrowed her eyes and her emerald orbs sparkled in the spreading fire. “You were the one who brought them here.”

“We wanted a new life away from your kind. We left Salem to get away from horrible men who wouldn’t let us live in peace.” She took a step closer.

“There is a missing boy! You can’t go around kidnapping children and expect it to go unnoticed!” I felt my temper flaring, but I still took another step back.

“We had nothing to do with that.” She shook her head back and forth. “He’s lost, probably stuffing his face with pie or sleeping off some booze he stole. Children do things like that, you know.”

“I’m sorry, I’ll tell the crowd that you’re not witches. We’ll leave.” My words started to get tangled in my throat again and I realized the smoke was making it hard to breathe.

“No.” She shook her head back and forth again. “All of the men you brought here will die tonight. They will all roast in this fire until there is nothing left of them. As for you—you will not get the privilege of death—you will suffer for eternity.”

My vision started to fade as the aura from the witch engulfed me. There was no more smoke in my lungs or fire surrounding me. I felt safe and calm. It was almost like I stepped onto a cloud. I felt my memories flooding in quick flashes of light. I remembered my grandfather’s farm, the apples we used to eat there when the harvest was fresh, and the cute girl next door I was obsessed with during my youth. I felt my first kiss, the first touch of a woman who wanted me in her bed, and the magic of feeling her body against mine.

Suddenly, it felt like all of those memories were yanked out of me. I was spiraling in a dark abyss. I could feel myself falling, although there was nothing above or below me. The darkness felt like the agony of death and as I looked around, all I saw was black. I lifted my hand and I couldn’t even see it in front of me. The witch’s words echoed in my ears followed by a cackling laugh. A second later, I heard horrific screaming—men dying and cursing my name as the laughter increased. The darkness engulfed my thoughts again as I heard silence close in on me like a vice. I felt loneliness, guilt, and then my mind itself shut down.

God, please save me! Save me from the darkness!

WHERE AM I?

My eyes hurt when they were forced open. I immediately felt a coldness that was reminiscent of winter’s worst. I looked around and saw nothing but a sheet of white powder that appeared to be snow. That was impossible. It was the middle of July. When my hands finally started to regain feeling, I pushed myself up and found that my bones were practically frozen inside of me. The thin tunic on my chest was not enough protection to keep the cold from pressing against my flesh. The wind whipped against me so hard it felt like daggers. My feet felt like they were weighted in iron, but they were so cold I couldn’t feel anything beneath the snow.

I turned in a circle, and in the distance I saw what appeared to be a light. I lifted my foot and forced it to take a step. After a couple of painful steps forward, I got a bit of momentum. I was going to die if I didn’t find warmth and shelter. The wind continued to bite my flesh as I got closer to the light. I felt like I walked forever, even though it had only been a few dozen steps. I stared at the ground and kept pushing myself forward, trying to will every fiber of my being to simply exist long enough to get to the light.

Help...

My lips were numb and no words passed the chatter of my teeth. I finally got close enough to the light to see I was approaching an enormous castle. I wasn’t sure what kind of trickery the witch had laid on me, because nothing like that existed in America. As much as I tried to fight against the illusion, my body demanded that I seek shelter and it was the only thing in front of me. I passed through the gates and saw my first glimpse of color, an enormous red rose bush that circled the gates of the castle. It seemed to bloom in defiance of the chilled wind that swirled around me. I could see a door and as much as I hurt, I knew I could escape the cold if I could just get to it. I summoned all of my willpower and pressed on until I got to the door. My hands were practically ice, but I was able to push it open until I found a large fireplace stacked with wood. I fell to my knees when I got close to it and let the heat warm me. Everything hurt as my body was thawed, but with the heat pushing back against the cold, I started to finally feel normal again.

Is this hell? Where am I?

Chapter 3: Anabelle

The snow around Lake Vaughn had stopped falling, b

ut the sky was still cloudy. I bundled up and started to explore the area around my father’s truck. I didn’t see any hint of footprints, but I was sure they would have been covered by the snow. I would have expected him to walk along the road if his truck had stopped working. I pulled out my cell phone and found that the service was spotty. I opened up the map on my phone and started walking, pulling my coat close around me. The backpack was heavy, but I didn’t want to find a hint of him and have to rush back. Every second was critical.

As I walked, the snow started to fall again. The further I walked, the harder it seemed to come down. I looked over my shoulder and saw that my footsteps were evaporating, along with the road. It didn’t seem to be natural. The snow should have taken longer to cover my tracks. After walking for about a hundred feet, I turned around and found nothing but glimmering white in all directions. There was no evidence of where I had walked, and the road had completely disappeared.

“What the hell?” My words formed steam around my face.

The ground seemed to give way and I could feel bumpy dirt instead of pavement. The snow got deeper as I turned back towards the direction where his truck had been. I looked at my cell phone and found that I no longer had service. I walked as far as I thought I had already traveled, but I didn’t find his truck or my car. My pulse started to get faster as I spun around. The temperature seemed to drop as I stood there and the coat I had worn was barely enough to protect me from the elements. I turned in a circle several times until I saw a light in the distance. I kept turning to make sure there was nothing else, and snow started to fall.

I felt drawn to the light. If my father had gotten lost, he would have likely went towards it if he saw it. I wondered why the police officers that were searching for him had never mentioned a house in the area—they made it seem like the whole area was deserted. I started walking, feeling the snow getting deeper as I got closer. I blinked a few times when I got close enough to see the light and realized it wasn’t a house—it was a castle. It was every bit the fairy tale abode from the books I had read as a little girl. When my feet carried me closer, I saw a beautiful sight in the middle of the blinding snow.

Roses? They’re gorgeous...

They weren’t just out of place—they were impossible. There was no way roses could have grown in the frigid tundra under my feet. The bumpy ground had given way to ice and every step seemed to crack it when I walked. The snow was no longer comfortable underneath my boots. It was like stepping on glass that broke with every step. I could see a light from one of the windows, so I walked past the roses until I could see a door. The storm started to rage the closer I got to the castle, and the castle was the only refuge.

I pushed the door open and was immediately overcome by immense heat. It was so hot that I had to drop my backpack and remove my coat when I took a few steps into the stone-walled corridor. The castle was like something out of a dream. I wondered if I was actually in the snow, hallucinating with memories of my childhood fantasies filling my dying brain. I walked into a room and saw food sitting on a large round oak table. In the middle was a rose that looked like the ones at the gate, but it was in a glass case and appeared to have several dead pedals at the base.

“Hello?” I called out and looked around. “Hello, is anyone here?”