Chained in the Demon's Lair (Hellfire Circus) Read Free

back the pain, Samuel spread
his lips in a condescending smile.
    “Cute little trick,” he said. “I suppose you
expect me to counteract.”
    “ My dear Samuel,” Mephistopheles said, his
voice losing its cowboy drawl and momentarily reverting to the
aristocratic tone of some yesteryear. “I await it with eager
anticipation. It’s been so long since I’ve seen you practice. Show
me what you’ve learned.”
    Samuel chuckled. “There’s time for that
later,” he said, “first you will tell me where Julie and Cassandra
are.”
    “Will I now?” Mephistopheles asked, raising
an intrigued eyebrow.
    “I know you wouldn’t have killed them,”
Samuel said, “you’d want to taunt me first, give me hope before
destroying it completely. As such, I suspect they’re also somewhere
nearby, no? No doubt you’d have me see what I could not save before
delivering the final blow. So where are they? On top of one of
those rock formations perhaps? Buried up to the neck in sand? Why
don’t you give in to your pride and boast of your latest
cruelties?”
    Mephistopheles stared at his erstwhile
accomplice for a moment, as though weighing him up. “Well really,”
he said, “am I that predictable?”
    Samuel offered no reply.
    “Fine,” Mephistopheles said, “I’ll tell you
where they are, but only because I know it won’t make a difference.
And no, I’m not going to let you see them. It’s enough for me to
know that you knew how much you’d failed. And by the way, it’s only
your latest little cunt I’ll be disposing off. The other one,
Cassandra, has made her own arrangement with me and will be living
to fight another day. Do you want to know what that arrangement
cost her?”
    “Where are they?” Samuel asked, ignoring the
embedded taunt.
    Mephistopheles lowered his brow with a
menacing glee. “You,” he said, “she gave up you. Your own little
darling. You got too greedy, Samuel. Tut tut tut. Typical greedy
little human.”
    Samuel bit the inside of his lip and strove
to keep his expression blank. He wouldn’t allow the fiend the
pleasure of getting to him. Besides, Cassandra’s betrayal was
hardly a surprise. The eventuality had crossed his mind the moment
he’d received the demon’s message. But he did not hate her. Only
felt sorry for the great pain she must have been in to cause her to
take such drastic measures.
    “Where are they?” he repeated through
clenched teeth. His entire plan hinged on getting the exact
location and then distracting the demon long enough to instigate
the rescue.
    “ A military silo,” Mephistopheles shrugged,
“a quarter mile from here. Really quite an impressive feat of
architecture. Hate can build such wondrous things. That’s an
ancient truth my friend, but it’s as true today as it ever was.” He
peered at his opponent with strange wonder. “Oh Samuel,” he said,
“Why didn’t you ever listen to me? Why didn’t you use the wisdom I gave you? You
could still be at my side today if only you’d learned. You would be
a hundred times more powerful than you are now.” He shook his head
in mock sadness (everything Mephistopheles did was a mockery of
normal human emotion. The only things that truly moved him were
mischief and hatred, evil and destruction) “Now I have to
extinguish my past mistakes. This is a mess I’ve been waiting a
long time to clean up.”
    With a flash, he hit Samuel in the chest with
another bolt of electricity. As the magician hit the ground, he
prayed that the force had not been so great as to destroy the radio
transmitter in his pocket.
     
    ***
     
    “Julie.”
    Julie froze in her cell. Cassandra had never
once addressed her by her actual name. But now here she was hissing
at her from the other side of the thick iron door.
    After a moment’s silence Julie spoke.
“What do you want?”
    “I have water for you. And some bread. You
must be hungry.”
    Julie bristled beneath the warm metal of her
neck brace. It was true, she was