Torment Read Online Free Page B

smashed his tool into the animal’s head. The fearsome noise
stopped.
    “Holy crap!” Mikey gasped. “What the hell was that? My
arm hurts like a mothersucker!”
    “Raccoon,” Jones was looking closely at the bludgeoned
body. “Rabid too. Bad luck for you, Mike.”
    “Oh man!”
    “Don’t worry. We’ll get you to the hospital after we
finish up. Get you some shots and stitches.”
    “Stitches!” Mikey almost wailed.
    “Yup,” Jones walked back to the open casket. “Fifty-five
of them, at least.”
    Elise tried to hide her smile. The kid was so darn
gullible. Mikey sat down heavily, one hand clamped to his wound. His blue eyes
were so big she was afraid they might topple out of his head.
    Quickly and carefully, the duo removed the requested
components. Elise was carefully placing the finger bones in a small padded box.
Jones was nearby, examining some odd writing he’d found on the underside of the
coffin lid. He gasped. Began to hiccup. Stopped.
    “What’s up Jones?” Elise asked quietly. “You okay?”
    “Did you see this?” Jones’ voice was odd. He was
subdued, all his usual confidence gone. “It’s a warning.”
    She looked. It was several lines of text written in
some language she didn’t recognize. “So what? We’ve seen stuff like this before.
Anyway, how do you know it’s a warning? You can’t read that any better than I
can.”
    “No, no. This is different. This is serious. We should
put it all back.”
    “Come on Jones! Snap out of it. We have what we need.
Let’s put the rest back and go.”
    Mikey stood uneasily. “What’s wrong?”
    Jones was transfixed by the script. His arms were
folded over his chest. He was rocking slightly, mouth working silently. Elise
was slightly disgusted as drool began to run slowly from the corner of his
mouth.
    She exchanged a worried look with Mikey. He shrugged
slightly, moving away from Jones slowly. Dealing with one crazy animal was
enough.
    “I’m sorry,” Jones said softly. “We’re all sorry.”
    “Who are you talking to?” Mikey whispered.
    “Her. She’s mad. We need to say sorry and put the
stuff back. Say you’re sorry, okay guys?”
    “Who’s mad? Dammit, Jones, we paid off the people we
needed to,” Elisa was looking about, gun out and ready. “Is someone else
messing around here?”
    “The lady’s very mad,” Jones voice was that of a
child. “We shouldn’t have defiled her. We have to put it back. Gotta put
it back and hope she won’t be mad anymore.”
    “No,” Elise said firmly. “I don’t know what’s come
over you, but we’ve got what we need. Let’s go and get our fee. Just like
always, right Mikey?”
    “Right,” Mikey said confidently. “Just like always.”
    Violently shaking now, their boss was moaning. He
pointed into the forest beyond the weathered headstone. His normally olive skinned
complexion was draining away. The neat goatee he affected was whitening before
them. Dark blood began to run down one nostril.
    “Witch! It’s the witch!” Jones screamed. “It’s too
late now! The witch is here!”
    Following the pointing digit into the dark woods,
Elise and Mikey yelled in fear and surprise. Before them, trailing a long gown
behind her, a twistedly beautiful apparition floated towards the trio. She was
not pale, like a movie ghost, but glowed a light green. Her face was long,
flawlessly smooth. The eyes were hard, glittering diamonds. Two monstrous dogs
trailed behind her. Easily as tall as Elise herself, twice as broad. They each
wore wide collars of thick ebony leather. Bright tanzanite pendants hung from
the middle.
    “My name is Liv Marius,” the apparition growled. “You
have violated my slumber. Why have you done this? Why have you defiled my
body?”
    “We’re sorry!” Jones cried, falling to his knees on
the muddy ground. “Oh please, don’t hurt us! We’ll put it back! We promise!”
    One hand raised. The man’s frantic apologies ceased.
He made a guttural whining sound.