Julius Rosenthal will make candy no more and other short stories by Nicholas Russell (young adult books to read .txt) 📗

felt the dark and commanding voice before he heard it, he had only heard it once before but he would never forget its power. “Release the girl to me, Gatekeeper.”

He turned to see the addled corpse of his beloved slowly pull itself up. He moved to position the girl behind him. “Why do you…

The room began to shake violently, and the trinkets on the shelves began to tumble to the ground. The Fiend finishes rising holding itself up with a strength that defies its addled body. “It is not your place to question my will. You made your choice now you must abide by it.”

The fiend stepped left trying to bring the girl into view, but every step was matched inch by inch from the gatekeeper. “You violated the rules, I have half a mind to send you down and let the Departed have their way with you. Better yet I shall feed you to the Free Fallen.”

“If you send me down before I release her, you will be powerless to touch her.” He reached back and with a hand on the girl’s shoulder took a step back.

“You can be replaced.” The fiend took a step forward; not a great step, a mere few inches. The Gatekeeper trying to keep his distance stepped back as well. With his eyes on the fiend and not his footing, the gatekeeper stumbled and for a moment the girl was exposed. A moment was all the fiend needed. He took his chance and lunged for the girl.

His strength heightened by his anger at his own foolishness, the gatekeeper launched himself at the fiend. Striking with terrible force the fiend and the gatekeeper crashed to the floor. The two quickly became intertwined, and the gatekeeper found himself at a disadvantage. In this place the Fiend Lucifer’s power was near limitless. Capped only by the limits he had placed on the form he chooses to inhabit. And he had chosen to inhabit Liandra , now the very torments he had visited upon her kept the fiend from using his full strength. In the weakened vessel the fiend was unable to stop the Gatekeeper from freeing an arm and gripping a shoulder. Once he had a hold, he squeezed crushing the brittle, charred bone beneath. With the shoulder now useless the gatekeeper pulled his other arm free and as his hands began to glow, grasped the fiend by his temples. With his head in his grasp he once again began the incantation “Από τους κανόνες και τη δύναμη του συμβολαίου, του ι ο θυρωρό”

The fiend’s eye’s burst open and its lips parted. Out flowed a pained voice that shot fear through the Gatekeeper. “Samuel”

The body slipped free of his grasp as the Gatekeeper scrambled to get free of thier intertwined bodys. He pulled himself free and digging his heels into the flood kicked, sending him across the floor. The frailty returned to Liandra’s body as it collapsed to the floor, it tried to move both arms, but with the crushed shoulder collapsed every time. Using its right arm it began to scrape and crawl across the floor. “Please don’t make me go back there.”

Lianrda’s body creaked and crumbled as she drug herself along the floor “Release the child, he’ll stop the pain.”

Her voice was weak and time held no sway here. The gatekeeper could only imagine the nightmares and torments that had been feasted upon her. A pity welled inside him, he had never known the horrors of those below. As the gatekeeper before him, walked Samuel through the gates Lucifer himself stood awaiting his arrival.).His presence made Samuel feel special and prized. The offer was simple, take control of the gate, escort those who must pass through and he would be spared the indignities of torment. Standing before the Abyss, Samuel chose the path of the gatekeeper. He looked now into the tortured eyes of his cherished Liandra. The pain that seared across her face ripped at his soul, his lips were dry as he forced he words past the hardening lump in his throat “She is special. I know you will not, cannot understand but she (special.”

The agony and pain slipped from her face, replaced with a mask of disgust. “I died for you. You feign love, but you don’t love anything. You lust for power now as you did before.”

A sense of betrayal filled Samuel, as he pulled himself up and reached for Lianrda’s cheek. “I do not want power. I have never sought power.”

But Liandra pulled from his touch, her eyes cold with hate staring him down. With considerable effort Liandra raises herself to her knees. With ash crumbling away she reaches out and places both hands on Samuel’s cheeks. At first she strokes him with her calloused and rough palms; two smooth and slow strokes. Then her nails dig in and with a scream she pulls his face to hers, “GIVE HIM THE GIRL!”

“Stop” the voice was so soft and quiet that had it not carried the weight of the girl’s power, both Liandra and Samuel would have missed it entirely. But her power was growing and with the simple command Liandra’s arms flew from his face. Samuel scampered back fearful of being forced to harm her.

Liandra bowed her head and a shudder crossed her body. When she raised her head again, turning to the girl once more Liandra spoke. When she spoke again the scared voice of a plagued soul was replaced with the deceptively sweet voice the fiend Lucifer used to ply his trades. “Little girl, I will enjoy feasting on your soul.”

With the porcelain doll still in hand, she cocked her head to one side. Standing before the purest evil any living creature had known she was without fear. A tiny smile parted her lips and she began to speak, “You should leave him alone, he is a very nice man.”

A deep guttural laugh filled the room, as the fiend stepped to his left and began a slow circle.