HM Mafia Round #6 Lynch

“Do you really think this house will let you live? It’s the house that’s tearing us apart, bit by bit, driving you mad if you weren’t already.”

Dia’s eyes were empty and glazed, unseeing in the light of the fire. She seemed to look at all of them and no one at all. The Reverend spoke harshly, and his words seemed to snap her out of her daze.

“You listen here, Jezebel, slinking whore of Babylon…”

Dia met Bob’s gaze calmly, piercing him with an unnerving stare that, for once, silenced the preacher. Her voice seemed to go deeper, more amplified, as she spoke. “You, with your clever words. Words that will turn to ashes in your mouth before this horror is ended, no doubt. And then where will you be, you with your posturing and Bible verses and fancy clothes? Will your God save you then?”

Dustin stepped in then, raising his hand up and lowering it with a mighty slap across Dia’s face, slinging her head back awkwardly and leaving a trail of five bleeding lines on her cheek. Breathing heavily and apparently shocked by his own actions, Dustin stepped back, bumping into the dining room table and bringing a hand out to steady himself. Dia lifted her head up with a snap of joints and fixed her stare, that cold stare of the doomed, on her attacker, and Dustin felt a touch of fear as he wondered what Dia would say to him. She looked at him, watched the rise and fall of his chest as he panted for breath, in a state of near panic, and then she did what no one could have expected; she threw back her head and began to laugh. The noise was huge, shattering the silence of the dining room and shocking the other guests into immobility. It was paralyzing and terrifying, that laugh, and the guests watched in horrified fascination, unable to look away. Dustin was frozen in place, his already pale face white as a sheet. Drend moved quickly, stepping right up to the hysterical woman and, rather than a slap, gave her a solid punch to the face. She blinked as blood streamed freely from her nose, then sneered at the young man, her upper lip curling back to reveal bone white teeth stained with fresh blood. He was sure he heard a snarl from deep in her throat. Unsure of what Dia would do next, Drend readied himself to strike her again if need be, sickened at the thought of hitting a women but knowing they had no choice, this was survival, and Drend would have to act, now or never, but he was breathing wildly now, frightened by that stare, oh god, those eyes…

Finally Jade snapped and lunged at the other woman. Miraculously, the small blonde struck home, head butting Dia in the ribs and knocking her to the ground, leaving her open to a vicious kick from the heiress’s platform shoes. Screaming in a frenzy of madness, Jade kicked Dia again in the ribs and brought her foot back for a third.

Jade’s primal scream seemed to snap the others out of their daze. There was something horrible about the sight in front of them; the young woman driven to such atrocious violence, so determined to destroy the woman they were all so sure was out to kill them all, screaming her head off as she kicked her, over and over. As one the men rushed to Jade’s side, getting a better view of Dia’s struggling form, and saw that the physic was trying to speak. It was Danny who pulled Jade back, though none of the others moved to stop him, and he leaned down, close to Dia’s face. Her breathing was wet and shallow, her eyes fluttering, her jaw working convulsively. She didn’t have much longer, but for some reason they felt compelled to hear her last words.

Instead of speaking, though, Dia spat in the reporters face, covering his left cheek in blood and spittle. Danny reeled back in disgust and fury, and Drend quickly stepped forward to take his place beside the dying woman. Her voice came out in a croaky whisper, no longer the deep and frightening voice they had heard before, but the voice of a helpless woman about to die.

“All…going to die…the house…the house…”

“What do you mean, the house?”

"All...damned...damn you...damn you..."

Her eyes were closed now, though they flickered beneath her eyelids. “Dia! What do you mean? What about the house?” Her breathing was slowing down, growing more and more shallow. The guests were all huddled around her now, close and suffocating, the smell of blood and bile and sweat filling their nostrils, leaning in as tight as they could to hear Dia’s final whispers. Jade wept quietly in the background, but all focus was on the fortune teller. The silence, broken only by Dia’s struggling gasps as she fought for air, stretched out longer and longer.

“Damn,” Dustin said, beginning to rise. “Not going to…” The young man was cut off in surprise at Dia’s eyelids suddenly flying open, staring right at him and startling him nearly out of his wits. Her eyes remained open now, unblinking, and Dustin found that the stare was not quite as intense as it was before.

And her breathing had stopped.

Slipnish 19 years ago
Oh...well done. Best scene yet...

Hmmm.