One Good Turn Deserves Another

Silk-thin silver strings woven cleverly into a lair, 

An intricate entwining of divinest thread...

Like strands of magic worked upon the air, 

The spider spins his enchanted web -

His home so eerily, spiralling spreads.

~ A Spider's Web by Jonathon Platt

premade bg fountain (by e-dina deviantart.com)

We've Been Waiting For You

Mike Wilcox opens his eyes.

His head is heavy and he feels disorientated - as if he is awakening from a deep slumber. He struggles to focus on his surroundings.

Glancing around him - Mike Wilcox struggles to gather his thoughts together.

He grasps at his face - he is wearing a mask.

Then he realises that two large men are flanking him on he either side. He swears that they are grinning at him through their masks.

They stand before huge imposing gold doors.

The massive doors slowly open up onto a large chapel.

Hordes of men, woman and children silently stare at Mike Wilcox from either side of the aisle.

Everyone is wearing elaborate gold masks which obscure their faces.

This is a dream. 

The red carpet before him leads all the way up to an elaborate alter where a massive gold crucifix hangs upside down.

The two burly men thrust Wilcox in the back and he slowly walks down the aisle.

"This isn't happening!" Mike Wilcox mutters despairingly as he stares at the odd crowd surrounding him.

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This is a circus of the absurd.

And he is part of the act.

A small band at the front strike up and begin playing ecstatic music.

Wilcox's memory is returning - he remembers spinning round and round to the intoxicating music.

The audience breaks into excited chatter.

They talk animatedly in a language that Mike has never heard before.

The sparse Grecian feel to the chapel is completed by blank faced statues lining the walls. But this is no chapel.

This is more like a mausoleum.

The enigmatic Aneliya stands at the alter looking triumphantly on.

Imperiously beautiful and unmasked.

She is dressed in a low cut black velvet gown - revealing her ample white bosom.

Wild witches black hair frames her pale face. Her dark eyes sparkle like two diamonds.

Her lips are as red as blood.

Aneliya smiles knowingly at Mike Wilcox.

She is the high priestess of this freak show.

Standing to her left is the short older woman of memory. She appears to be surveying the scene with pleasure.

Standing beside the woman is a hooded monk.  Head bowed. Hands across the chest. The living dead.

Mike's heart skips a beat at the sight of Aneliya.

He vividly recalls how her intriguing face has been his obsession.

Then he notices with mounting unease that a knife and a glass vial are glistening in Aneliya's hand.

She is a vampire.

The music seems to be getting louder and louder. Faster and faster.

Then he sees her.

The monkey woman.

Crook backed and deformed.

She is dressed in a white gown and holds some withered flowers in her wrinkled hands.

Her gnarled face is full of expectation.

She grins at Wilcox showing rotted teeth.

She is the bride.

Suddenly it all comes back to him.

"This is no dream! " Mike Wilcox wails with mounting dread "This is really happening!"

He struggles but the two big men grasp his arms firmly.

He is trapped like a fly in a spiders web.

Someone thrusts a goblet in his hand.

Weak with thirst - Mike Wilcox gulps down the peculiar concoction quickly. It tastes of wine and spices - and something else.

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Mike swoons on his feet. He falls to his knees.

Aneliya looks down at him - a broad smile on her pale face.

Then Wilcox remembers.

The two large men grab his arms and tug him up.

"You are perfect" Aneliya declares as her intriguing voice sends tremors throughout Wilcox's body.

The monkey woman opens her arms to receive him.

Mike Wilcox feels the primal urge to act.

The strange brew is working its way through his body rendering him bleary eyed and flaccid. He had better act quickly.

Wilcox grabs the knife from Aneliya's hands and turns to face the surly men.

They sneer menacingly.

As they lurch forward - Mike Wilcox slashes them both easily across the throat.

"No!" Aneliya screams.

Mike turns to face her.

Her beautiful face is contorted with rage.

Several members of the unholy congregation lurch at him.

But Mike turns to the short, stout woman and tugs off her mask.

The face beneath the mask is as withered and shrivelled as an old dried apple core.

Mike Wilcox recoils in horror.

"Look at me ..." Aneliya exclaims looking deeply into Mike's eyes "I am like you ... but they ... they need you ...  my father was like you ... but my family ... they have the curse ... we need your blood ... we need you to join with one of us  ... the children will be pure ... like you"

"Never!" Mike answers vehemently "I will never allow it!"

"My sister Galina ..." Aneliya pleads "she needs you ... we need you"

The monkey woman is trying to grasp him. She is mumbling something in that insane language of hers.

She is a monster.

"Never!" Mike Wilcox snarls - just as three men round on him and he loses himself in a furious burst of animal activity.

Kicking.

Punching.

Stabbing.

Aneliya is screaming orders now.

"Don't let him go ... don't let him go ... don't let him go ... don't let him go ... don't let him go ..."

Then everything goes black.

Mike Wilcox remembers being carried by a stretcher into the ambulance.

Then everything becomes hazy after that.

Shadows cast against a wall.

Wilcox can hear the bleep of medical equipment.

Wilcox can feel the oxygen mask on his face.

The mild electrical pulse of the defibrillator on his chest. 

But exhaustion robs of him of awareness and he quickly disappears into fitful slumber.

Time passes.

Drifting in and out of consciousnesses - Mike Wilcox hears the soothing sound of a female voice.

"There, there Mr Wilcox" the woman says "you've had a nasty experience but it's all over now"

He opens his heavy eyes.

At first he struggles to see.

Then the face comes sharply into focus.

A beautiful face like a pale moon.

With brilliant dark eyes.

And a bright red mouth.

"Everything is going to be just fine now" the nurse adds reassuringly - gently patting his hand.

Mike Wilcox struggles to see the name on the badge.

Nurse Aneliya ...

The nurse smiles knowingly at him.

But Mike Wilcox is unable to shout or fight now.

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