The Caverns of Carnage
The Water-Well

October 17, 1963.

The woman rushed in and slammed the door. As if trying to keep the devil himself out. She clutched her baby to her breast, kneeling by dying embers in the hearth. She blew on them but a flame didn’t start. Her baby started to fuss.

“Hush now, shh… it’ll be…” she stopped mid-sentence.

The chandelier above her was spinning. As if some unnatural force had caused its light to rotate around the room, like tiny ancient searchlights. She heard something slithering in the shadows by the well.

Yes, the well…

The chandelier flickered, and the woman spotted a silhouette at the corner of the room.

“Please, devil… leave us be…,” she whispered.

The shadow stepped into the light.

It was as if the man had been turned inside out. There was not one inch of skin on his body. What she was looking at was burnt, and exposed flesh.

“You mistake me, woman.” he said, “I am no mere devil, I am BloodLust.” His voice was guttural, unnatural.

“But my child, not my child… She is innocent…” she whispered.

“So you say.” he said. The baby started wailing. BloodLust smiled.

“Please,” begged the woman, “Kill me instead.”

“I will,” he replied. “And then, her. And your husband and the rest of your children, and all the brutes who brought you here.” His filthy smile grew wider. “Or, you will occupy yourself otherwise and not interfere. I will take her and you will live, and those of your other children — in whom I take no interest.”

The woman looked down at her baby again. She kissed it and set it down. It bawled.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”

She turned away from the baby. Faced those dying embers. BloodLust crawled over to the baby, and the crying cut off sharply.

The woman nearly fainted as she heard the sound of a snap inside the well. Her expression changed. Fear. Denial. Grief. Acceptance. And then nothing. Simply a glazed look. As if nothing horrific was happening behind her.