Horror story, short fiction, short story, demon, witchcraft

Photo by Victoria Borodinova from Pexels

Author’s Note: I wrote this piece directly into the website tool as you see it. I have decided to revise/edit this piece in stages by keeping track of the versions. So you can see a progression. I welcome any and all feedback on the piece.

It was a cold, fall afternoon the day she moved in. As she pulled up the steep gravel driveway, the wheels of her car slipped on the loose rocks and kicked a few down the hill. The driveway ended at a somewhat new, tan metal shed covered with a deep green, sloped roof. She parked the car in front of the shed and made her way up a flight of wooden stairs to the side door of the small house. A single story ranch with blue siding, a black shingled roof, and a rather generous deck. Taking a moment to enjoy the view of the valley below her, she took a deep breath, breathing in as much of the crisp air as she could.

The house was positioned in the woods on a steep slope leading up the side of a small mountain nestled on the edge of the Appalachian Plateau not far from the Eastern Continental Divide. The house had become an eclectic mix of old and new, giving it the appearance of a work in progress that stopped years ago.

As she surveyed the rolling hills from her deck, she nodded her head in satisfaction. “This is perfect,” she said out loud.

After unloading her car, she decided to walk down the hill to the edge of her property that ran along a poorly kept dirt and gravel road. Standing in front of the white plastic post with the sign that read, “Sold.” Tugging on the post a bit, she realized she couldn’t pull the thick post out of the ground as easily as she thought. Squatting a little, she tugged on it a bit more and it began to loosen. The process took longer than she expected as she tried rocking the post back and forth to loosen it from the ground. She removed her coat as she began to break a sweat and continued to work on loosening the sign. Taking turns trying to pull it up from the ground and loosening it by pushing and pulling on it. She gave it one hard tug and the sign came out unexpectedly fast as she fell to the ground with the white plastic post in both hands.

The man was standing over only a few feet away looking down at her. She could hear a low growling that, at first, she thought was coming from the man. Pushing the sign away, she rolled over and got to her knees.

An old man with a gray unkempt beard, an old drab coat, and a dirty baseball hat stood looking at her. In one hand he held a leash tightly wrapped around his fist attached to a rather old, but still intimidating, dog. The source of the growling.

“You startled me!” She said with a smile and placing her hand over her chest.

The man just glared at her.

“I didn’t see you there,” she added when he said nothing. “I was just trying to remove this sign.”

“You buy this place?” He asked rather gruffly.

“Yes, yes I did,” she said smiling again. The intensity of his stare was off-putting and she looked down.

“I just arrived today, the moving truck comes tomorrow with my furniture.” She added.

“You know this place is cursed,” he said flatly.

“I’m sorry?”

“Cursed,” he said again. “Some say haunted, but I know it is cursed.”

“Ok,” she said. “Look, who are you?”

“I live yonder,” he said with only the slightest movement of his arm to indicate a vague direction.

“Well, I’m Eva, nice to meet you,” she said, brushing her hand against her pants before extending it to the old man.

He didn’t move.

“You shouldn’t be here. A woman. Alone. This place is dangerous,” he said. He hadn’t moved to shake her hand. The dog kept growling, a low rumble, as it stared at her.

“Ok, well that sounds like superstition to me,” she said, retracting her hand.

“The lord allows a certain amount of evil in this world, to test us all. To be sure our faith is strong. Women are weak. You will not resist.”

“Ok then.” Eva took a step back and shook her head. Shocked and in disbelief over what he just said.

“This place was built in the 1970’s. A decent church-going family. God-fearin. They had a son, was trouble he was. Say he conjured a demon in that shed right there,” he said. Tilting his chin slightly up the hill past the house between the metal shed and the house. He meant the old plywood shed with only half a roof left that looked like it might collapse at any minute. “They say it’s a portal to hell.” He was nodding now. An older couple bought this place ten years ago, tried to fix it up. They found them dead six months later. Both fully dressed laying in their bed. Wife had a screwdriver stuck in her skull. Husband’s throat was cut. Police say it was murder-suicide.”

Eva stared at the old man unsure if she should laugh in his face, or ask him to leave.

“You best leave. This ain’t no place for a woman.” His dog barked once, and he pulled it closer. He stared at Eva for a few minutes more and then turned and walked back down the dirt road without another word.

“What the …” Eva said out loud. She shook her head, picked up the plastic sign and made her way back up to the house.

* * * * *

It took a few weeks to get settled in the new house. Her bedroom was almost complete, only the framed pictures lined the walls—waiting to be hung. Other than her encounter with the old man on the first day, she hadn’t seen, nor talked to anyone, since that time. Hungry for a little interaction, she picked up her phone.

“Tonight’s the night,” she said aloud.

Thumbing through the app on her phone she swiped left a few times before she came to Adam. She smiled warmly. “Hello Adam. Mmmmm. You will do nicely.”

Within minutes she was chatting with Adam through the App. A small round image of his appeared next to his messages in grey on the left. Hers in blue on the right.

[Adam]: You’re really beautiful.

Awwww. You’re so sweet.

[Adam]: Love the nighttime pic! kinda has a witchy vibe.

I love that photo.

Taken by an ex, unfortunately. :(

[Adam]: All good. We all have a past, right?

True!

[Adam]: So whatya doin tonite?

Wanna get a drink?

I would love that!

Do you know Tilleys in Harrison?

[Adam]: You kidding? It’s such a dive!
Love that place!

Let’s shoot for 7.

[Adam]: See you then.

Eva put the phone on the charger behind her bed and smiled broadly.

“Now what in hell should I wear?” She said.

* * * * *

They met a few hours later in a small building next to nothing. The sign said it was a restaurant and bar. More like a large room with some cheap folding tables, plastic chairs, and wood paneled bar. The woman standing behind it looked like she’d been smoking for a little more than hundred years. The creases in her face gave her the appearance of being related to an old gnarled tree.

Adam and Eva grabbed one of the round tables with four plastic chairs around it. They talked for over an hour about what they did for work. How the pandemic was impacting their lives and what they planned to do when it was over. Eva was feeling flirty and, before long, their legs were touching and he had his hand on her thigh. Within a few minutes he had kissed her between sips of his beer.

“You want to head back to my place?” Eva asked. “I live about 20 minutes from here.”

“Damn, you are remote!” Adam said with a smile. “Would love that.”

* * * * *

Halfway to the next hour, Adam was laying on top of Eva in her bed. Still in her bra and jeans, they kissed passionately. Pushing him onto his back, she straddled his thighs and tugged up on his shirt pulling it over his head. Bending over, she kissed his chest and sucked his nipples passionately.

“Oh God!” He said.

Kissing down his stomach she unbuckled his belt and pulled it from his pants tossing it to the floor. Tugging at his pants, she pulled the zipper down before realizing his shoes were still on. Crawling to the bed she pulled the shoes and socks of his feet and kissed each toe. Returning to his big toes she bit the fleshy part hard.

“Easy there, tiger!” He said with a broad smile.

She pulled again on his pants aggressively and tugged on the striped dark underwear he was wearing. Eagerly kneeling between his legs she wrapped one hand around his testicles and began caressing the shaft of his cock. She looked up at him.

“Oh fuck! Yeah, that’s sooo good,” he said. “You have the best hands.”

Dropping her head she licked from the base of his shaft up to the tip before taking him into her mouth. For the next few minutes she used her mouth to pleasure him. Placing both hands on her head, he grabbed her hair and controlled the cadence.

“You are so fucking good at that,” he said between moans and gasps.

She lifted off his cock, spit once on the tip. Pulling her own pants off, she licked her hand and rubbed it across the front of her labia before climbing on top of him and inserting him inside her.

“What about a condom?” He asked.

“We don’t need one,” she said with a smile.

“Are you clean? I mean no STDs?”

“Sure,” she said as she began sliding up and down his shaft.

“Oh fuck, you feel good!”

Within minutes Adam reached his climax and his release was punctuated by heavy breathing, moaning, and him crying out, “Oh God! I’m coming!” again and again.

Eva remained atop him, slowly moving her hips.

“That has to be the greatest orgasm I ever had,” he said, still breathless a few minutes later. “Did you come?”

“Yes, it was. And no, I didn’t. You didn’t last long enough for me to even enjoy it,” Eva said flatly. “But you can make it up to me. You up for a little kink?” Tilting her head down she looked up at him through the hair falling in front of her face. She dug her fingernails into his chest hard enough for him to feel it hurt a little.

“Fuck yeah,” he said with a big smile. “What did you have in mind?”

“I want to tie you up and fuck you again.”

“Please.” Was all he said.

Eva reached up to the shelf behind her bed and grabbed some tissues. Lifting off of him, she cleaned herself with the tissues and dropped them in the trash can next to the bed. Reaching under the bed, she pulled black leather cuffs lined with a red fabric. She wrapped the first around his wrist and secured it with the buckle before walking around the bed and repeating the process. Within a few minutes Adam’s ankles and wrists were secured by four leather cuffs attached to chains leading to a place under the bed he couldn’t see.

“Damn, almost feels like you had this planned. You are sluttier than you look.” Adam’s voice had changed a little. His erection gone, it wasn’t until all his limbs were bound that he realized he wasn’t able to move much. His legs were spread apart enough to feel slightly uncomfortable. Adam was exposed and wasn’t sure he was liking this as much as he was a few moments earlier.

“Relax, you will be fine,” Eva said, removing her bra. She stood at the foot of the bed completely naked.

“You are hot as shit,” Adam pulled on the restraints and realized they were solid. He strained a little harder and nothing gave. The leather cuffs were tight against his wrists. Looking at the restraints he realized they were buckled tight. He strained again with both his arms and legs. And nothing moved. “Maybe we shouldn’t do this whole bondage thing.”

“Are you getting nervous Adam?” Eva asked calmly. Just standing naked at the foot of the bed she stared right at him. Through him actually. Her face was impassive.

“No, it’s just this isn’t as cool or sexy as I thought,” he said.

“You’re scared Adam,” Eva said, climbing onto the bed between his legs. Starting near his calf, she kissed his leg softly. Occasionally licking him. She spoke between kisses and licking. “Admit it.”

“No, I am just not as into this.”

“You’re lying Adam,” Eva said calmly. Still kissing his leg.

“No. It’s just …”

“Yes, Adam. You’re lying. You lied about not being with anyone. You’re married. You have a child. Two, in fact. You aren’t looking to meet someone special, like you said. You were looking for a hookup. A good fuck.”

“How do you know that?” Adam asked. Anxiety slowly crept across his face and he tried pulling on his restraints again with no effect.

“I know a lot about men like you, Adam. My first husband was named Adam. He was a liar, like you,” Eva said. She was kissing the inside of his thigh. Her cheek close to his testicles and his flaccid penis.

“I want to stop, you’re a fucking psycho whore.” Adam’s face reddened. The veins in his arms and legs more visible now, he continued to fight the restraints, his movements more jerky.

Eva kept kissing his thigh.

“I want to stop. Let me out,” Adam's voice rose, fear was beginning to take over.

“You see that joke you made about Adam and Eve? Our names. Well Adam was my first husband. But he rejected me. Cast me aside. My name is not Eva. That was the name of his second wife. I killed her. Took her place. Took her name.”

“What the fuck? You’re crazy! Let me go, now!”

“No Adam. I won’t do that,” Eva said. A loud noise surprised Adam. It sounded like someone struck the side of the house. Then a long low growling sound outside the window of the room could be heard.

“What the fu—” Adam strained to look out the window. “What was that?” The sound of heavy footsteps walking away.

“Adam, it’s time.” Eva sat up on her knees and smiled. Leaning over, she pressed her lips against his thigh where she had been kissing moments before. Giving him one last gentle kiss, she bared her teeth and bit hard into his flesh. Adam screamed as blood sprayed from the inside of his thigh. He could feel intense pain as Eva pulled a large piece of flesh from his leg. Grinding her teeth together to sever the flesh, she pulled left and right for several seconds as she bit a sizable chunk of flesh from his leg. Rising up, she spit the flesh onto his stomach, her face covered in his blood. Adam’s screams had become hysterical, he could feel the blood pumping from the inside of his thigh. The more he struggled the faster the pulsating became. He didn’t stop screaming.

Eva got off the bed and walked out of the room.

Inside the main living area of her house, which consisted of a single large room that was her kitchen and living area, she met her servant. The blood streamed down her face and covered her chest. She stood naked before a large creature with bright red skin, horns that brushed the ceiling, and a face more animal than human.

“He is ready for you,” she told the creature. “Come back to me when you are done, I desire the pleasure of your sex.”

It nodded and the large hooves of its legs fell heavy on the floor as it ducked to walk through the doorway into her bedroom.

Adam’s screaming finally stopped.

The Demon in the Wood - v.1

The Demon in the Wood - v.2