Knock Three Times

29. The Killing Floor

                    'ASHLEY!' CHELSEA CRIED OUT, watching her niece bleed out, horrified beyond rational thought as blood poured from her opened throat. The battered and bruised aunt bellowed in frantic anguish, a sense of madness creeping up inside her like a poisonous centipede. In that moment, she recalled one of the few times she had ever stepped foot in a church, the day Meredith had appointed her Ashley's Godmother. This was the only vow she had ever made—the only one she had ever taken seriously. Hers was a spiritual pledge to protect and guide her niece in all holy matters—an oath she had failed to keep as of this moment of hopeless devastation. Chelsea knew little of their true connection to the historic madness of which her whole family had been consumed. She knew nothing of the Abel and Seth bloodline, and so an all-consuming guilt became her, convinced Ashley's death was her own making.

    Chelsea had allowed herself to be taken by the Dark Man, and it was her fault Ashley had been slain before her very eyes this night. Hollowness grew as deep as an ocean trench in her soul, a deep and vast pit of despair eating away at what little good remained of her essence. Whatever ambitions or desires she once had were nothing—shit; all career and life ambitions redundant, as nothing mattered now.

    Staring hopeless into her niece's bulging eyes, she watched her mouth something silently before all light faded, and with it any remaining ambition to continue fighting. Strapped down upon the onyx marble alter, amongst its many spikes, horns, and demonic etchings, Chelsea Ellis prayed for a death that would not come, as though the very thought mocked her from beyond the veil.

    'Quiet now, child.' said one of three hooded figures who approached the altar. He was an old, towering man with a thick German accent she had met once before, the night of her first performance before the elite in New Orleans. She could see a sinister intent behind his faux glasses, a hunger which made her feel all the more uncomfortable, if it were possible. 'You may die once you have served your purpose, frauline, but it is not zis hour.'

    'I'll fucking kill you!' she screamed in utter wrath, a blinding surge of utter hate that could no longer be contained. Her restraints were taut as she pressed her jaw tight, back arched and eyes piercing with malice, which seemed to only entice the eerie man known as Klaus. If her restraints had gave in that moment, Chelsea would have torn the flesh from his sagging face with her own teeth.

    'I like it when zey are feisty.' he grinned with pleasure.

    'It won't be long now.' said another man to her right, the handsome and familiar face of Justin. His physically attractive exterior was nothing compared to the ugliness within, a vile creature lurking beneath his high cheekbones. 'Just lay still until the moment comes. You are about to be a very famous woman, Ms. Ellis.' Justin's smile was unnerving to say the least, as though he could wear it no matter what ailed him, through any horrific travesty. 'He will help you forget about young Ashley, rest assured.'

    She hauled back and spit a mouthful of blood at him for the second time, but missed by a few inches. He simply watched the gob pass him and land on the stone platform, continuing his smug grin.

    'My-my; not very patriotic.' he smugly grinned as Chelsea pulled at her restraints until they cut into her wrists. 'To assault your superior is treasonous in my country.'

    'Release me, you coward, so I may bleed you like a stuck pig!' she screamed as the smug grin faded only slight.

    'Easy now, Chelsea.' his eyes suddenly burned with a hateful malice. 'We mustn't behave like animals.'

    'How can you stand there and watch an innocent child slaughtered? You're not even human.' she barked back with a fury in her tone. 'You have no soul.'