Lead Us Into Temptation

Shiloh was dangerously close to hyperventilating. The staggered gasps were nearly louder than the stumbling, wobbly sprint down the dark hallway of the abandoned home. Glancing back briefly over her shoulder, she almost slipped on an accent rug casually placed at the clawed feet of a table placed before the giant window- the fork in the road, as it were; head swinging wildly back and forth in indecision, the light from a candle in a window just to the left glinted off the blood on the slips of skin bared in the gashes of her sweater, and off the face of a very old-fashioned wristwatch.

Breath hitching, she spun left and kept running down to the third door in the hall, turning the handle to see if it was locked. Upon the easy rotation she opened the door hurriedly and closed it as quietly as she could, locking the door backing up until she hit the opposite wall. With a squeak her legs slowly slid out from under her, and the sweater bunched up just underneath her breasts with the rough friction against the slightly bumpy wall. Her legs splayed out once she was finally on the floor, eyes trained on the door before realizing she was sitting next to a king sized bed, untouched in nearly a decade. With a furrowed brow, she slowly turned her head to look at the bed, noticing a wrinkle in sheets that shouldn't have been touched. Her legs started to curl, right leg starting to brace its foot underneath her hips as she leaned over to check . . . just to see . . . if there's anything underneath the-

Shiloh froze as she locked wild-eyed stares with the girl underneath. Blood seeped onto the floor underneath her body from a cut somewhere on her back, baby pink fingernails nearly breaking from the force being used to curve onto the wooden floor. Her wild auburn hair was wrapped around her neck, face, and a portion of her upper arm. That arm led to a trembling hand clutching large scissors so tightly her knuckles were bloodless.

"Cici . . ." Shiloh's trembling whisper broke the stare-off. With a high shriek, the girl Shiloh knew as her graduate studies friend Cicilia, swung the scissors wildly. Still screaming gutterly, she scrabbled out from the bed, and Shiloh could hear the sound of her feet hitting multiple boxes on the other side- which could explain why she hadn't gone that way?

"Cici! Ci! Stop!" Shiloh screamed, attempting to dodge the wild swings but sobbing when one good hit produced a bloody, jagged cut from knee to the middle of her shin. With a ragged cry Shiloh grabbed a pillow from the bed and swung when Cici did, listening as the scissors tore into the pillow and briefly got stuck in the extra down. Cici yanked the scissors back but Shiloh had already leapt for her, landing on her back and listening to the wheeze Cici made as all the breath was forced out of her body.

"AAAHHHH-!" Cici's screams were cut short as Shiloh's blade sunk hilt deep into her back. With a choked off gasp of pain, Cici froze and one shaking hand reached back to scrabble and tug at Shiloh's sweater. Shiloh wrenched the knife out her back, feeling Cici buck from the overstimulation of pain and then shock, before she grit her teeth and brought the knife down five more times. Cici had stopped moving after the third strike, limp body jerking from the extra hits. Shiloh panted wildly, still perched on the back of Cici's bleeding corpse, her face now sporting a delicate spray of blood upon the cheek like the highlighter that once sat there hours ago. With a gulp she toppled off to the side, raising up the wrist that had the watch wrapped around it to check the time.

"Shit . . . twenty minutes . . ." Shiloh's head tipped back briefly, rolling it onto her right shoulder before looking forward again. With one last glance at Cici, avoiding the glazed dark eyes that stared into nothing, she slowly rose up and avoided putting weight on her injured leg. "Had there been another way I . . . Good luck in the afterlife, Cici." that murmured goodbye was followed by a long inhale, and even longer exhale before she limped to the door. Shiloh took a minute to press her forehead to the wood, holding her breath for four seconds before filling her lungs and exhaling sharply. With a grunt she unlocked and opened the door, limping out and looking up-

"YOU BITCH!" The infuriated, cracked roar was her only warning, prompting Shiloh to throw herself to the ground and avoid a cleaver knife to the face. Shiloh's head jerked up, watching as her best friend Melina stood furiously above her. Melina flipped the blade down and dropped to try and plunge it into Shiloh's back but she rolled quickly and scrambled up, grabbing onto the walls and wall fixtures for help. Heart racing, Shiloh held her own blade up, the edge still dripping with blood as she faced off against Melina's spotless steel weapon.

Shiloh would take one small shuffle backwards, Melina would inch forward. They kept this game up for two heart-stopping, tense minutes, both breathing loudly but with very different dispositions. Melina was fueled by unholy rage, back curved forward and knees bent like a predator ready to spring. Shiloh's shoulders were slightly hunched and her body bent slightly away from Melina, her face a tale of exhaustion and difficult choices.

Melina snarled and took a giant step forward, and Shiloh turned and bolted. The thuds of Shiloh's sneakers, and the staccato snaps of Melina's heeled boots, created a duality of sounds that was almost melodious were it not for the fear that drenched the atmosphere. Shiloh threw herself around a corner and nearly catapulted down the stairs if not for a careful grab at the railing. She was halfway down when she heard Melina scream, and then she was abruptly crashing down the stairs to the floor below against the wall.

The house became silent in a way it hadn't been since the night had turned so disastrously. Shiloh lay crumpled, face down and limbs curled inward as if she were a dead spider at the bottom of the stairs. A cleaver was half sunken into her right shoulder blade, the surrounding fabric quickly becoming stained by the dark ruby blood glinting in the dim light from the dusty, cobwebbed chandelier on the ceiling. Melina stood in the middle of the stairs, shaking so hard she needed both hands to clutch to the wall and railing for continued balance. She stares down at her best friend with glassy eyes before taking a single step down. Then another. Another, and another.

Melina nudged the body with her foot, and there was no movement. With a whispered curse, Melina saw this as her chance to bolt for the door that she could see was so close, mere feet away. Her body twisted to spring away when Shiloh reared up from the ground and dug her nails into the back of Melina's right knee, causing Melina to trip and collapse. Without pause Shiloh drove her knife into that same spot, causing Melina to scream shrilly.

"You've always been ticklish behind your knees Melina." Shiloh grunted, heaving at the hot rush of pain that assaulted her when she rose up and the shifting of her shoulders served to jostle the cleaver in her back. With trembling hands she reached behind herself to grip the handle of the knife, and took ragged breaths before tugging. It didn't come out the first time, so she sobbed brokenly and she had to tug two, three more times before the cleaver was dislodged. She brought it forward to look at the now stained tool and gave a hoarse shout before lifting it and swinging it down into the back of Melina's other knee. Shiloh ignored the agonized sounds of her best friend as she got her knife back and started to crawl to Melina's head.

Melina sobbed, but she refused to give up, something which Shiloh had admired in her friend nearly all her life. Just not right now.

Melina's hand shot out and her lilac nails cut into Shiloh's skin, the thin lines stinging horribly than Shiloh anticipated they would after being stabbed and sent crashing down a set of stairs. With a hiss she shied away before landing a punch to the back of Melina's head, and she grabbed at Melina's shirt to help her throw Melina onto her back. Moving her thigh to straddle her last sacrifice, Shiloh took a deep breath.

"Why," Melina sobbed helplessly, hands weakly coming up to slap at Shiloh's body and face. "Why did you do this?! We loved you! I loved you! I-" her cries were cut off by a fit of coughing and more sobs.

"I told you Melina . . ." Shiloh finally had the grace to let tears fall down her face, guilt morphing her features. "I told you! I didn't want to use my old family home for your stupid party! I didn't want to play that stupid game! I didn't want to wake up what I knew had always been in these shadows! I knew what I desired most and I did not want to be tempted to ask!"

"What-" Melina choked, cut off as Shiloh's hands wrapped around her throat. "You . . . can . . . fight . . ."

Shiloh chuckled, shaking her head. "You don't understand Lina, this wasn't a demonic possession . . ." She lifted the knife above her head, watching Melina's eyes widen with terror in her last moments. "This was a negotiation. I'm sorry you were the price, but . . . I can't lose this chance."

The knife came down into Melina's heart, and just as the light in the girl's eyes died instantly, so too did all the lights in the house. The candles, the lamps, everything. Shiloh froze, still sitting atop Melina's corpse in the pitch black, as a high-pitched chuckle bounced around the room.

"Damn. I'm gonna admit Shi, I did not think you would accomplish this." The voice was eerily indistinguishable. A middle-aged man? A young girl? A screaming babe?

Shiloh swallowed. "We made a deal. I promised you five souls . . . you promised me the best way to avenge my family."

"So I did." The demon was suddenly sat, cross-legged in front of Shiloh. She flinched but bit her tongue to keep a scream in. Futile, perhaps, as the demon still grinned knowingly and giggled. "Well Miss Shiloh, are you ready to join us all in hell? Get you a quick costume change, a little transformation montage and . . . voila! Come on . . . come join your parents, and you may all return to enjoy revenge."

Shiloh stared at the sickly, neon yellow eyes before her and had flashes of memories going through her mind. Of her friends. Stacy, bubbly and bright with her throat cut wide open. Jasmine, serious and shy and now crumpled somewhere with a fire iron through her skull. Julia, who had been the newest addition and the first to die by falling from the roof. Cicilia, trendy, sassy, and now stabbed to death. Melina, her best friend who had pulled her from the despair of her parents death by "accidental drowning" . . .

Shiloh smiled and took the dark, clawed hand that was presented to her. The contact burned like placing her hand on a lit stove burner, but she smiled nonetheless.

"Yeah . . . let's show them a real good Halloween."