Lovecraft's Dinner Party

Lovecraft was a brilliant writer who could scare you... he was the Stephen King of his day.  There was a story - a myth - that he was forever trying to find the doorway to Purgetory and Hell and open them to see what was inside them.  He believed there were other portholes to other dimensions and places through particular spells and curses we could use at the right times here on Earth.  
There was a rumour that Lovecraft had a dinner party once with a collection of around 10 people where he tried to open the door to Purgetory and thought he failed.  This was until all of the people from that dinner party died mysteriously - all but a 10 year old boy who was at the party who wasn't a part of the actual spell.  Have you ever imagined what went on at that dinner party?  I have.  And Chuck Wendig's Flash Fiction for Halloween this week has given me a great chance to jump in and write about it!

Can you imagine being invited to a dinner party by a famous author, going with your Mum and Dad, only to come home with one of them different?

You know – different.

They weren’t your Mum anymore.

Well, I did… and I can tell ya how it happened.

This isn’t something I can tell just anyone, so sit down and have a slug of that Johnny Walker Blue there, and we’ll chat, eh?  Thanks for bringing that by the way.

It was around 1936 … or 37… I keep forgetting which… when Mother and Father were invited to Lovecraft’s house for a dinner party.  Well, they didn’t trust anyone to care for me – nobody did in those times – and so took me along to play with any other children there.

There were none.

Mother had mis-read the invite where it said:  ‘No children’.  She said I’d be able to entertain myself.  The author wasn’t happy, but he put up with me for the evening and ended up being happy about it; seeing I didn’t say much and didn’t get in the way.

Dinner was nice.  It was just like what we had at home.  Then, I was ordered out of the room a bit after having sweets and the cook took me to the library where I sat and read a bit before getting really bored.  Mr Lovecraft didn’t have anything to entertain children, but the cook had brought in some paper and pencils for me.  She was nice enough to let me in the kitchen after she checked on me once or twice and talked to me while she cleaned up. 

She was a bit like Mother, but spoke a little differently. 

Suddenly a scream cut the air from down the hall! 

We both looked up as she dropped a glass and it shattered on the floor, “Oh shit!” she bent down and began cleaning it up, glancing over her shoulder every now and then to the door.

I jumped down from the stool I had climbed up on, “Should I go and see…”

“No!” she shouted, “I was ordered to stay here, no matter what happened.”

“My parents are in there.” I had a really bad feeling about that scream, it sounded like Mother’s, or did it? Ignoring the cook, I raced out door, down the hall and to the front parlour where they were all gathered and peeked through the large keyhole.  It didn’t give me a good view, so I pushed the door opened a little and saw something I wished I hadn’t.

My Mother was on the floor convulsing.  Father had turned on Mr Lovecraft screaming at him, “What have you done!”

“Like I said, we were supposed to open a doorway.” The author was leaning against the back of large chair, “I just wasn’t sure which doorway.”

Father nearly belted Mr Lovecraft when Mother stopped convulsing and her eyes opened.  He looked over at her as she sat up slowly and she looked at him, “Can we go home now?”

“Definitely.” He turned from the writer and headed toward the door I was hiding behind.

I raced off down the hall to the kitchen where the cook was waiting.  I climbed up on the stool again and tried to appear as though I had been there the whole time when Father looked in, “We’re leaving?” I asked him.

“Yes.” He nodded, “Come on.”

I glanced at the cook who looked on the verge of tears as I followed Father out the door. 

She knew something was going on.

Within minutes of arriving home, my Mother turned on Father, slashing his throat!  I heard the struggles, the cries and final screams from my bedroom.

I knew she was coming for me!

Fighting back the tears, I opened the window, looked down and found the three storey drop to the ground too far me!  I didn’t know what to do!  My bedroom door opened… and there was my Mother, standing there, not knowing what she had done.

“I think your father’s dead.” Her dark silhouette said in the doorway in the most calm voice, “He’s not moving and I have blood on my hands.”

“It’s okay, Mother.” It wasn’t, “I’m here.” I wished I wasn’t, “I’ll help you.” I wanted to run away.

She wasn’t my Mother anymore.

She was so cold to me.  I loved my Mother, not this thing she turned into after that night at Mr Lovecraft’s house.  He’s now dead, and I’m the only one alive to remember this… and well, you.

Hey, we finished off the bottle of Johnny Walker Blue… want to go to the cellar and get another one?  I have quite the collection there… thanks… it’s not the only thing I have down there. 

Mother’s there too…

She’s hungry.

You do remember I told her I’d help her, right?

Yeah… we found our way to where that creature came from that possesses her and let another one out just like her.  It doesn’t like me… I’m not its type.

But you are.

Believe It Or Not

This week, we have, on Chuck Wendig's Friday Flash Fiction Challenge, a great challenge.  It's a song title challenge... we pick a song title randomly and use it as the title of our flash fiction! I've had 'Believe It Or Not' from 'The Greatest American Hero' tv show jumping around in my head for the day... catchy tune, funny show, should be interesting.  So, here goes:

My best friend is a vampire.

Knew you wouldn’t believe me… nobody does.

But then, your friends take you out for a feed while my best friend goes out for a feed before taking me out somewhere to watch me eat on him.  He’s saved me more times than I care to remember when it comes to dangerous situations.

And yeah, I’ve seen him feed before – not that he’s all that happy I did – and I reckon he looks sexy as hell as a vampire; but please don’t tell him that!  He’s told me not to get too close to him about it.  However, let me tell you about how we met… you won’t believe it.

I was on my way to pick up my sister at Mt Gravatt College of TAFE.  This place is on a busy road, but has a huge amount of trees so you can’t see the buildings and it’s nice and quiet from the buildings themselves.  It’s also the perfect place to get mugged!

And while I was leaning against my car having a smoke, I heard a noise nearby.  I had just lit up and didn’t expect anyone to approach, but I looked around to my left, then to my right, pressed the central locking on my key tab and took a few steps away from the car and looked around the area completely… yeah, I was okay.

Um,… no I wasn’t!

Out of nowhere, somebody jumped me from behind and I had the wind knocked out of me.  I dropped my smoke and my hand landed on the brightly burning part; but this isn’t the main thing that hurt me.

“Gimmie your money, bitch!” a voice growled in my ear as a handful of my hair was yanked back and my forehead smacked the ground, “Where is your money!”

“Shit!  I don’t have any on me!” I sobbed.

As quickly as the arsehole had landed on me, he was pulled off.  I looked over my shoulder to see him being physically thrown against a tree across the carpark.  I heard, in the near silence, a loud snap and he landed in a limp heap on the ground.

Nearby was a man who rushed over to me and helped me to sit up, “Are you okay?”

My eyes kept on wandering to the dead – or dying – guy at the base of the tree, “Um… yeah… he’s dead isn’t he?”

He glanced over at him, “I wouldn’t worry about him.” He didn’t take his eyes off me, “I’m Rick.”

“Sharna.” My head began to throb as my sister approached and she rushed over and asked question after question about what happened.  I was so thankful Rick answered all the questions for me because I didn’t know what the hell to say.

“Just make sure to take her straight home.” He said handing her the keys to my car, “I don’t want her driving.”

“Yes… definitely.”

Since then, we’ve been the best of friends.  I’m not sure how old he is, but he’s shown me a world that I never knew existed.  I have been let into some great Goth clubs – which have turned out to be vampire clubs (and they’re just Goth clubs in disguise).  And on my 21^st Birthday, Rick took me out to his house for a night – just the two of us – to watch vampire films that Hollywood did… which he calls comedies. 

However, the one time I’ve been grateful that he’s been my friend is now.  Rick took me out on the town one night to show me something he knew I’d hate about my friends.

“I thought you’d want to know.” He had said as we walked along the boardwalk, “You’d tell me if you thought it was in my best interest.”

“Well, yeah, we’re friends.” I said to him, “You saved my life.”

Taking my hands he turned me to face him, “Now, what you’re going to witness isn’t going to be something your friends want you to know about them.” He hesitated, “They are out to kill me and my kind… they are direct descendants to Van Helsing; and it’s in their blood to kill vampires.”

“Oh god…” tears threatened to make me look and sound like a sissy, “This is why they’ve been hanging out with us?”

He nodded, “To get close.” We turned and he slipped his arm around my waist as he showed me the beach from the railing, whispering in my ear, “Do you see the second bon fire along?”

“Yes.”

“Watch carefully.”

In silence, we watched as there was a struggle and a blade was quickly raised in the firelight and then it fell.  A person picked up something that looked like a ball and dumped it on the fire, “Oh shit.”

“Your best friend, Bethany, just killed a vampire.” He said.

“Are you going to run?”

“No.” he held me close from behind, “I’d like to become closer to you.”

I turned my head to look at Rick, “How do you know I’m not related to Van Helsing?”

“I knew the night I met you that you and I were matched through your blood… I marked you through tasting your wound.”

I sighed, “Oh… I see.”

“I’ve been wanting to taste your blood again for a long time, Sharna…” he pushed his nose against my neck and took in my scent, “Would you let me turn you?”

“Now?”

“Yes.”

I watched my friends at the bonfire kill another vampire with disgust, “I hate to see your friends die, because I’ve seen your world.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, he bit into my neck.

Drinking.

Draining.

Killing me.

Turning me.

Making us one.

 

The Orichalcum Mechanism

We were given two lists this week on Chuck Wendig's Flash Fiction challenge... and asked to make a title from the two lists.  I chose these two words because they jumped out and smacked me in the face!  Enjoy!

Anna held the book to her chest as she ran down the dark London street.  It didn’t look like anyone was after her, but over the last few weeks – since being sent this damned book – she’s had people after her.  This was the third city she had landed in and the third city she was running around in to try and lose them.  And the one thing she knew was that she had to get her butt to the Watcher’s Council to hand the book over.

Pausing on the corner of the street, she looked left and right, then up at the building across from her, chanted a phrase in Latin in her head and closed her eyes.  For a split second the world switched off – went quiet – and then came back on.  When she opened her eyes, she was in the foyer of the building she had been looking at… but she had used her last stores of energies to get inside.  As she looked over her shoulder to see if they had followed her, she staggered a little, fell to one knee and looked up to see a few blurry people rushing toward her to catch her as her world turned dark.

She woke in an office on a lounge with a blanket over her.  Every muscle hurt and her feet tingled then hurt then tingled again.  Sitting up slowly, she found the book on the table next to her.  Picking it up, she held it close to her again.

“Hello Anna.” A man she hadn’t noticed sat not far from her by the window.  He had looked over at her when she picked up the book, “Where did you get that book?”

“It was sent to me by my father.” She said looking at its worn leather cover, “And since I’ve gotten it, I haven’t had time to study it.”

He leaned forward in the chair, “Do you know what it is?”

“No.”

“Then, how did you teleport inside here?”

“I’m not sure.” She shook her head, “But it wiped me out.”

He nodded, “Indeed it did.  But you now have time to study your book… would you like something to eat?”

It took Anna only a few days to learn she wasn’t exactly what she thought she was.  Her father sent her the book because he had died and she had to take over as representative in the family business.  She had been shielded from it for a long time, until now; until she received the book.  Reading the text, she realised she was part of much bigger thing than she thought, but could she believe in such things?

She looked up from the last few pages as she was let in on the secret to fulfilling her quest to the family business… to acquiring full knowing of everything she needed to know.  To know what?  She wasn’t sure.

“So?” the man asked as he walked into the room and waited, “What has the book told you?”

“Not much.” She lied.

He folded one arm across his stomach while the fingers of the other hand absently stroked his chin, ‘Don’t lie to me, Anna.’ A voice entered her head as he glared at her from the door.

Rising, she closed the book and left the room, “Get out of my head!”

As the door slammed, he winced, “Dammit.”

She found the room she had been given and locked herself inside it.  Opening the book to one page she had marked with a post-it note, she re-read the part she couldn’t believe:

‘… and just how am I going to tell you at the right time, my dear Anna, exactly what you are and where you really come from?... However, all I can do now is hope you’re ready for what is coming for you – what you’re about to endure and about to be confronted with…’

She sighed, what the hell was he talking about?  Dammit, she was human… wasn’t she?  Well, if she was, exactly how did she teleport herself inside a building from across a busy London street?  It was late.  She was tired.  Anna went to bed.

A loud noise woke her.  But the place was in absolute darkness.  She was at the ready as she grabbed the book, pulled on her shoes and jacket and opened the window of her room.  Shoving the book into the pocket inside her jacket, and strapping it in, Anna climbed up onto the window sill, swung her leg around and began to climb up the side of the building.  As she moved, taking deep breaths, she felt as though she had done this a hundred times before and knew where to put her feet and hands.

Then, she slipped a little as she came to the top ledge of the building.  A sinking feeling her gut gripped her, but before she plunged to her death, a massive clawed talon reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her up effortlessly onto the roof.

“Anna Montgomery I presume?” he thunderous voice whispered.

Her eyes took in his massively muscular form from the huge feet to the hooked winged tips towering over her, “Um… yes.  So long you don’t kill me… I am.”

He smiled, “I am not allowed to harm you or allow harm to come to you.”

“Shit.” She whispered, “So, what do we do now?”

His kind eyes looked down at her, “You have your father’s diary?” she nodded, “Good, you know what you are then.”

“No.”

“He didn’t say?”

“No.”

“It is written in Ancient Law from thousands of years ago that you were and have always been Annabellia the Great Queen and Master of the Gargoyles… we are made from Orichalcum and you are the only one who can tell us what to do in any country all over the globe.”

“I read about that… it’s mainly used in Ancient Rome for coins.”

“And they made gargoyles like me from it too… and they made you as well; to start with.” He muttered, “Then, you became part human and part angelic, you were immortal to some impossible to others… a name was given to you.”

“What name?”

The massive creature looked down at her, “The Orichalcum Mechanism.  You come but once in a lifetime; and in each lifetime you look exactly like you are now, with all the power and knowledge imbedded in your mind… until now, where you must learn it from your father’s journal.” He snorted, “However, we must search for the right journal to inform you better.” Suddenly he turned to the roof door, “They arrive, hurry, climb on!  Your life is in danger seeing as you don’t know your full power, I shall have to protect you further until you know who you fully are!”

Anna and this huge creature she barely knew flew off the building and across the London skyline with people watching on after them.  It was with sudden knowledge she knew his name… Kelwin – the very first of his kind.  She was indeed the Orichalcum Mechanism; as her mind suddenly threw open doors she thought weren’t there and poured out knowledge she thought was just weird stuff her Dad told her about.  She was everything he had insisted she was.