A Melancholic Black Series (Book 1): The Red Door (8 page)

“I don’t need to know your name. Unless you’re ready to confess your love to me after we’re done fucking.”

This catches the man off guard. Brazen is what “Wendy” is. Typical man: attractive older woman throws herself at him, with no intent on making him work for anything, and he never once thinks that there may be a hidden motive.

Even his friends have no clue. There’s a piece of ass right there; bait, dangling, and he’s about to chomp down.

The bartender returns with the white sangria. Mr. College grabs it and hands it to “Wendy.”

“Your drink.” He smiles.

Down in the basement, Rodney stares across the room, exposed to Amberly’s glare, who is staring right back. His look is of worry and fret; her look is of hunger and impatience. If Mommy doesn’t come home soon, she may no longer be able to contain herself.

Luckily for Rodney, he hears Nell’s car tires slowly running over the crackling gravel. Rodney screams, knowing there’s someone with her, “Help me! Fucking—”

Within a blink of an eye, Amberly rushes to him, and covers his mouth with her cold, dead hands. For a few moments she was nothing but a very hungry blur. She growls in anger.
Do NOT fuck with my food,
is what she’s thinking, and Rodney knows it. His cries are muffled, but it doesn’t stop him from squirming.

Amberly squeezes harder, breaking one of his teeth. She wasn’t even trying. Her power, no matter how awesome, seems to be limitless. If she wanted to, it’s plausible that she could’ve popped his head like a puss-filled zit. Not to say that she won’t eventually try.

Blood squeezes from his cheeks and through the cracks of her fingers. She goes into a trance. Like an addict to freshly cooked meth, or a shark spotting an injured seal; there’s no sweeter sight. She leans in and laps at the blood, accidentally gnawing at her own hand while ripping off small pieces of flesh from Rodney’s cheek. Their fresh, warm blood trickles down her jaw. She’s in euphoria as Rodney screams out from pain and fear, but nothing is going to save him until Nell gets her date inside the house.

For the first time, Rodney wishes it
was
someone else. He doesn’t want to die like this. If it meant sacrificing an innocent man to save his own ass, he’d take it.

Hurry up, Nell,
he’s thinking to himself.
Hurry up!

The front door opens as Nell and Mr. College step inside.

“Wow… shit, what is that smell?!” he asks as he takes a pungent whiff like a punch to the nuts.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. Our basement got flooded… it was very moldy. We had to hire someone to dig it all up,” she lies. “Unfortunately, the smell is going to stick around a while.”

“’We?’”

“Yeah, my husband and me.”

“Husband? What the fuck, lady? You’re married?”

“Well, yeah. He’s not here if you’re scared. He travels. Won’t be back for a couple days. Is this going to be an issue?” she asks.

Mr. College puts his head down in shame.

Nell places her hand on his crotch, “Sweetie. This isn’t my first time. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

He looks at her, honestly unsure. It’s not ethical to cheat on your spouse. But, she clearly doesn’t give a fuck, why should he? “No problem at all,” he replies.

Nell leans in and kisses him, without hesitation. Gives him less time to think. Less time to focus and realize that the smell isn’t mold, but dead bodies. Death has always given off a very familiar odor. Once you’ve been exposed to it, you’ll never forget it.

They take turns moaning and panting, barely catching breaths. Though Nell doesn’t want him catching his breath as she guides him into the kitchen, against the island counter. Closer to the basement, but more noticeably, closer to the knives that litter the kitchen.

She’s kissing him with more passion than she has ever kissed Rodney. Not out of wanting this younger man, but because the thought of knowing she is going to kill this poor soul makes her not want to think of it. So she jams her tongue down her throat and whispers, “I want you so fucking badly!” What she’s really saying is, “Can you be the one to save me.”

She’s gone off the deep end and she was never a strong swimmer.
Too late, Nell. Too late
, she thinks to herself.

“Well you got me. Show me what you want to do with me… slut!” Mr. College bravely utters.

Nell smiles as she grabs a knife and lunges at him. For a big man, he surprisingly jumps out of the way pretty quickly. “What the fuck?!”

“I’m sorry—so sorry!” she pants. “I have no other choice—you have to believe me. I have to. I
have
to!”

She lunges again, this time Mr. College catches her wrist and rips the knife from her grip. He grabs her by the back of the neck and throws her across the island, as she crashes to the floor, landing hard on the right side of her hip.

Pure shock and hatred exit his eyes. He’s gone, mentally. Now he’s fighting for his life and he has no plans on stopping until Nell is dead.

He grabs her by the hair and lifts her straight off her feet. He cocks his right arm back and swings, however the impact never hits Nell, who is bracing.

Instead, blood sprays all over Nell’s face, and complete horror plastered on his. Amberly stands behind him, holding his severed arm. Her eyes are lit with undefiled hatred and wolfish hunger.

No one touches Nell.

He turns and gasps, “Oh… my… God!’

Amberly tackles the man against the refrigerator, digging her fingers straight in to his left pectoral, slowly prying open his chest cavity. He screams in immense pain as Amberly pierces his lungs and rips apart his diaphragm, chomping at his aorta as the warm blood sprays like a thick mist, coating her face.

There’s
nothing
he can do.

All his size and strength mean nothing when going up against an unearthly impish force of rage. He’s limited, she isn’t.

Nell stands up, panting, scared of how close she came to failing. She could’ve been killed. She walks to Amberly and watches her daughter devour the dead man from the inside out.

Amberly latches on to the heart and wrenches it out before wrapping her red-stained teeth around it. She grinds it slowly between her pallet and tongue before swallowing it.

This
is the hardest part for Nell. Not Mr. College being eaten before her, but his heart. It is
now
that she realizes that,
she too
, has had her heart devoured by Amberly.

XIII

November 28th.

5:30PM.

Six days later.

“What are you waiting for?” Rodney asks, as the words slowly slip through his parched and crusty lips. “Huh? Just, what the hell are you waiting for?” he asks again. “…I just don’t care anymore,” he admits, defeated, nearly at Death’s door.

On the other side of the room Amberly finishes up yet
another
meal: an older man, overweight, with a tool belt. A plumber. An unsuspecting chap who just showed up to do a job. Now he’s dead. Just more fodder thrown in to the avaricious auger that likes to be called Amberly. She pays Rodney no mind. All this time, she’s held back her hunger for Nell.

“Let me go! Kill me! Just do something!” he hollers.

“Oh, quiet down. Quit yelling at your daughter,” Nell shouts back. “Stop being such a damn grump!”

She walks down the stairs, her heels clacking against every step; dolled up again. Slim-fitting red dress, with a slit up along the leg. Stunning. A little overkill, but stunning regardless. For the last six days, between going out and calling the plumber, Nell has aided in the deaths of six more men.

Old and young, doesn’t matter. Amberly was like a rabid dog, but instead of shots or being put down, she just keeps getting fed. Amberly’s appetite is expanding. She’s going to have to start feeding her twice as much.

“Please… you need to stop this,” begs Rodney in a last-ditch effort. Hard to think that Nell would listen now. It’s been a while since she has passed the point of no return. There
is no
going back,
only
forward. Deeper into that rabbit hole.

“Rodney. Who’s being naive now? You have to know by now that I won’t stop,” she responds. “You’re not looking so good, by the way.”

“
You’re
killing me, Nell.”

“
You’re
doing that yourself. I give you food and drinks.
You
choose to not indulge.”

“I need help…”

“Are you going to change your mind, then?” Nell asks.

He doesn’t answer and he doesn’t need to. Just like she won’t stop killing in the name of her daughter, he’s never going to agree to support this new lifestyle.

DING-DONG! The doorbell rings. Nell is surprised. An unscheduled guest. This is his last shot so Rodney yells, “Help—”

Before he can finish, Nell rushes to him, trying to cover his mouth, but inadvertently stumbles in her heels and slams her knee against Rodney’s head. It bounces back against the beam, knocking him unconscious.

“Shit!” Nell exclaims.

“Rodney, bud? It’s Mack,” Rodney’s boss says as he opens the front door, walking inside the smelly, unkempt house. “You here, man?”

The basement door closes and Nell rushes in the living room, after running as fast as she can back upstairs, startling Mack. “Hey!” she says out of breath and excited.

“Hey, Nell,” he responds back ambiguously. “Is Rod home?”

He cannot help but stare at Nell’s body in the red dress. Something she forgot she was even wearing until just now. She
also
notices his eyes surveying her body.

Hopefully
, this works. “No… no, he’s not. He ran out for errands,” she lies.

“Errands?”

“Yes.”

“See, it’s just a little weird—
what
is that God-forsaken smell?” he asks.

“We’re growing mushrooms down in the basement.”

“Mushrooms…?”

“Yes,” not even knowing what she’s saying. Of all the lies she’s been spreading about the stench of death,
mushrooms
is all she can think of. When she was younger she lived near a factory that grew mushrooms and it constantly smelled of manure. So, why not? To her it made sense. “Organic, not drugs!” she nervously chuckles.

“O-
kay
. Listen, I haven’t seen or heard from Rodney in over three weeks,” Mack says as he nosily looks around the living room. “Has he forgotten that he has a career?” Mack asks.

“No, he knows. Just, with Amberly’s death… it’s hit him kind of hard. He’s just been lounging around… thinking.”

“Thinking? Hey, you don’t mind if I get a drink, do you?” he asks, not falling for one word Nell is spewing. He doesn’t know the extent of Nell’s lies, but wants to investigate.

“Well—”

He doesn’t wait for Nell to finish, he helps himself, walking into the kitchen. Nell runs after him. She grabs his shoulders, and spins him around, locking lips. It’s worked so far, and if something isn’t broke, then there’s absolutely no need to fix it.

“Nell!” Mack shockingly shouts. “What the fuck?”

“Oh, shut up and kiss me,” she orders.

“I can’t believe this,” he admits before returning the passion, lifting her up by her ass and placing her on the kitchen counter. He fidgets with his belt buckle. “I’ve wanted this for so long. How the fuck does a guy like Rodney get you?!
Never
understood that shit.”

“Just get it out.”

“Who knew you were both swingers.”

Nell grabs a hold of Mack’s hands, stopping him. “Swingers?”

“Yeah. Dannalee and Rodney. But, don’t worry, I don’t judge. I think it’s awesome.”

“Who…
who
is Dannalee?”

“Like you don’t know,” Mack smiles as he realizes that Nell, in fact, does not know. “Shit. Did I just blow his spot?” he laughs.

“Yes. I believe you did.”

“Whatever. It’s no biggie. Spite
him
, fuck
me
,” he suggests.

“How long?” Nell asks. “With Dannalee.”

“Four or five months.”

A single tear streams down Nell’s cheek. A revelation.
Damn, Rodney! Damn him!
is what she is screaming inside her head. There’s going to be no more forgiveness for what she’s just learned. Something Amberly has known all along.

Anyone could have her body, but her heart and soul
belonged
to Rodney. And only
ever
Rodney. It’s just a damn shame to now realize that it’s been one-sided.

“
HELP ME!
” Rodney screams from the basement. He’s woken.