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Randolph and Terika
- Randolph and Terika -
At the height of the Victorian era, there came to the shores of England a certain unwanted visitor who arrived at the docks when a visiting ship sailed almost silently into port on one cloudy, solitary evening. The ship was piloted by a rather small and sparse crew that all had strangely pallid skin and frightened, wide eyes. They were as silent as the dead, and went about their business as if nothing else in the world existed. After the ship had docked and the crew disembarked following the depositing of their cargo in a warehouse a good distance from the usual warehouses most ship crews of proper repute used... no one saw precisely where the men went, the sailors having gone off this way and that throughout may of the districts where most decent folk preferred never to venture at such a late hour of the night. Whatever it may be that their business was, they kept it to themselves and not one man spoke a word to anyone. In the midst of this strangeness, a small figure in a black cloak... lithe and nimble... did sneak through the back alleys of London with no haste but much secrecy. No one saw this person, no one knew that they were even about. They had come from the ship, and now it was time for them to be about whatever it was their particular, peculiar business might be. The crew had been simple to bend to their will, but the act of doing this had weakened this individual to a certain extent that was unexpected in how sudden the onset of it was... so now, it was needful for this one to be finding a means to recover their strength back its' former heights. Killing was not an option in such a bustling city as this, at least not yet... thus, the need for subtler means was in order, and all it would take was draining a bit of the life force from an errant beggar or two and if such as they perished accidentally no one might think twice about it. Such as they had weaker life forces than was preferred, but they would do in a pinch, and this was a matter of the utmost need. The journey over the waters over which the vessel had traveled was long, and it was possible to drain only so much from the crew without losing them to death's embrace. But London was a large city indeed, and filled with a great deal of vitality. Plenty to spare, and nothing to lose by trying!
There came to be, in a small orphanage on the outskirts of London... two visitors of a mind to adopt a child into their home. The man was middle aged and wearing an expensive brown suit with fine trim as befitted a fellow of his wealth and social standing. He had a bowler hat the same color as his suit, and he took it off his head as he entered the building. He was well mannered, had a mustache that he kept as neatly trimmed and immaculate as one could want, and he was strong and intelligent in ways that many women found attractive. He shook off his umbrella, for it had been raining out and he and his wife had to walk a ways from the carriage to the front door of the orphanage. Then, he smiled to the receptionist and asked her a number of questions after telling her his name, which was Randolph Freeman. His hair was long but neatly trimmed and tied back in a neat ponytail with a gold cord. He was not actually from England originally, nor was his name in truth his original name... but, he had been in this country long enough that no one would have taken him for a foreigner. He had the look of an Englishman, and ever the manners of a gentleman of the utmost nobility and class. His hair was black, his skin light but not at all pale... he did not like to wear brown, but on this occasion it was wise to make a good impression and this suit was the finest he owned. Being a member of a secret society had its' advantages, and he was as soon as he got to England able to be directed to the right job to suit his unique talents. Soon, he had in short order made a fortune doing what he did best, and his wife was so proud of him. She herself was a young woman well into her mid twenties, with flame red hair tied up in a neat bun in modest fashion. She was fair and freckled, obviously of Irish descent, her skin pallidly pink and her cheeks somewhat rosy. She wore a plain olive green dress on this occasion, mostly because the weather was bad outside with the rain coming down so strongly... and she had no wish to get her finer dresses soaked through. She was quiet, kept mostly to herself, and let her husband do the talking at the moment. She actually in truth was an extrovert, but this was a matter of business and such things her husband had the talent for.
“Shannon, it seems that we have been approved for the adoption and the child we had our eye on will be ready for us to take home within the hour. Does that not make you happy?” Randolph turned about to say this to his wife. She smiled sweetly, and replied: “Indeed, husband, it does! I always prayed for a daughter, but God never saw fit to grant me one... at least this way, we can have one after all.” She was, as her private physician told her, barren and that is to say she was unable to bear a child from her body. Being prone to occasional sickness and bouts of weakness, that may have been for the best since it was known that women in such condition as she oft suffered from did not always survive childbirth. It was a wise decision to adopt, whether she had been barren or not, and though the day was frightful and surely the night would be worse in terms of the weather... it was a joyful moment for Shannon Freeman. Only an hour, her husband had said... not too long to wait! She sat herself down on a chair, just across from the reception desk, and waited patiently. Her husband paced nervously, and seemed to be a far distance removed from his present location with his mind filled with whatever preoccupied him so. “I wonder... where do his thoughts go in these moments?” Shannon mused to herself, but then allowed her thoughts to turn towards the future and what it was going to be like to be a mother finally. After an hour passed in this way, one of the women who was in charge of the orphanage came out of a side room and at her side, holding her hand, was a young girl of ten years who had a beautiful, cherubic face and hair of the rarest blue black color. The little girl had her hair tied up in the back, and it cascaded down her back in its' naturally wavy fashion. She had curled bangs above her thin eyebrows, and the ribbon that held her hair back was scarlet in color and tied in a neat bow. Her lips were plump, her skin fair, and her eyes a rich shade of brown as like unto the soil of the very earth beneath one's feet. The child wore a beautiful red velvet dress and her white silken bloomers peeked out beneath the skirts of it. She wore black dress shoes on her feet, and she bowed with an elegant curtsy as soon as she saw the couple who waited so very patiently for her to emerge from the rooms in which the mistress of the orphanage got her ready to be on her way to her new life. The young girl smiled at Randolph brightly... and she was introduced to the married couple formally. “Her name, as you know, is Terika, and she is from Romania originally. It accounts for her accent, most definitely, which is very pronounced but she understands English so well that I would think she must have had some tutelage in the language from her earliest years. Normally, it is not our policy at this orphanage to take in children from other countries, but this one was in need so greatly when she arrived... weak and sickly as she was, at the time... that it would have surely been the most criminal of acts to refuse to take charge of her and care for her. It seems that sickness was but the most passing of things, since normally she is healthy and full of energy like any other child at her age.” All of this was explained by the matronly woman who accompanied the little girl. Afterwards, Terika so said in perfect English but with the aforementioned accent: “I am very pleased that you have chosen to take me into your home, mister Freeman. I hope I will be very happy there and bring you much joy!” It was said in a way that felt personally directed towards the man himself rather than to he and his wife as a couple. Randolph smiled back, and said in a polite and fatherly manner: “Dear girl, it will be honestly a pleasure to take you into our home! My wife has desired a child for so long now, and she has taken to you quite strongly after our first meeting with you was concluded. And you are such a pretty girl! It is without a doubt you will bring light and joy into our house and hearts.” The little girl walked over to the man and placed her hand in his, as the woman who had brought her hither gave all of the necessary paperwork into the couple's keeping. Once the full measure of the adoption's details were seen to and the matter concluded, the couple and their new daughter returned to their carriage, where the driver had been awaiting their return patiently. “Off we go now, everyone! The weather's getting worse by a lot, so time to head on home it is.” the driver said with a smile, tipping his hat to the little girl and attempting to appear as friendly as possible. The child smiled, and for the most part it was a quiet drive home. The wind picked up towards the end of the journey, and the booming thunder could be heard in the distance.
It was not odd for a mid October day to end with such a storm, but what did seem strange was how at ease with it Terika was when her new parents put her to bed. “Aren't you in the least bit frightened at all by that terrible thunder?” Shannon asked her, and the child's reply was an almost cold comment. It was as follows: “Sometimes, storms come in from over the seas... and, this is the dark time of year. As days become shorter, night falls swiftly! I fear neither the coming of night nor the storm.” She in no capacity spoke after the manner of a child, but used words and had a depth to their wording that was subtle and mature. This, Shannon simply attributed to the child having had a decent education early on, since child prodigies oft were of a more mature mentality than their peers. And her coldness... well, after all, it was only their first night in the same house and Shannon was mostly a stranger to her. The little girl would, most certainly, warm up to her in time! “Well... good night, Terika, and have pleasant dreams.” said the new mother, and she made certain the lamps were off in the little girl's room so she could sleep without any distractions. She had already purchased a full wardrobe for the child, and the girl wore a soft, silky nightgown with full, billowing sleeves that had frills at the cuffs. “I wonder if she suffers from any bad dreams or night terrors?” Shannon wondered as she closed the door to Terika's room and went off to try and see if she herself could sleep with the sounds of the storm raging outside. Her husband held her as tight as possible all through the night, and in the latest of hours she finally fell asleep. It was silly, was her last thoughts before dreams came upon her... silly, how a child could show no fear of something as always had frightened her since she herself had been the little girl's age. Silly or not, she felt deep fear! Shannon's dreams were terrifying, and though she knew they had been horrific she could not recall any details of them upon waking in the morning. She was thankful for that small mercy, however tiny it be.
A private tutor was hired for the child's schooling, and it was decided she should be schooled at home so that she would not be bullied in school for being so unusual and a foreigner besides. But they would wait a week to do that, and give the girl some time to get used to things about the house. The house, it was a good sized mansion just outside of London in a rural area far from the places that were showing signs of the beginnings of the earliest phases of industry's negative impact upon the environment. Not a factory in sight, and plenty of breathing room to spare, Shannon often thought whenever she looked out one of the windows of the large house. It was filled with all the comforts and opulence that her husband and she both favored and found good in life. A whole section of the house was converted into a library as well as a study area, and this was Randolph's favorite part of the place. He owned a vast collection of old books and occult objects in addition to various items of great antiquity that he had picked up during his travels abroad. He had visited many distant countries, and seen things foreign and exotic to the more grounded mind of his young wife. He held his meetings with his colleagues in the study area, and when they met the doors were locked and he never spoke even to his wife about what was discussed. He was a secretive man by nature, and something of an introvert... the fact that he opened up more to Shannon than to anybody was telling, because he told her precious little of certain things. Whilst telling her all in regards to pretty much everything else! She never quite understood exactly what it was the man did for a living... it was all very vague and very complicated, the things he did tell her about it. It involved his journeys abroad, and the gathering up of antiquities and rare items of value... and she knew that it was not criminal in nature. But it was a dark and mysterious business, whatever it was, and it paid so very well that the couple was set for life as regards money. Thus, she learned not to question it even though her mind sometimes when it wandered convinced her to consider looking into the matter more closely. But she never did, and became happy with things simply as they were. Now, her thoughts turned to her little girl, Terika, and she realized she had a responsibility to the child to make certain to think of her in the first part of all things, and so she kept her thoughts on her duties to the child and not on whatever it was her husband got up to with his colleagues. She was a sensible woman, and not prone to mad fancy.
Breakfast was decent, the kitchen servants had prepared the meal excellently, and everyone ate well, heartily, and happily enough. But during the meal, Shannon noticed that the little girl kept staring at her husband almost longingly, with that longing at one point becoming almost like the look a hungry person might have when appraising a longed for meal. She asked the child: “Terika, is something the matter? It appears you are just a bit... distracted... at present. What are you thinking about, dear?” And once more, the little girl spoke coldly to her as she said: “I am just thinking about the future, Shannon. I am happy to be here, after all.” but her voice was almost monotone, her words doing little to elaborate on what it was she was actually thinking about regarding the future. Shannon also noticed that Terika did not call her mother or any proper word for it. That distressed her just a bit, though she was happy that it seemed the girl was glad to be a part of what now was their family. What was more, Randolph noticed that his new daughter was staring at him in the way that she was, and he returned her gaze and smiled at her in a way that he had never smiled at his wife. A way she always wished he had smiled to her! And she had in her stomach a feeling of unease. Once more, she brushed off the worry and convinced herself that the man was simply trying to be friendly with the child and that there was nothing more to it than that. This was their first proper day as a family... and perhaps it was simply the awkwardness of that which caused her to imagine more to these things than there actually was. Randolph at one point during breakfast did ask Terika: “My dear, would you like it if later on I showed you the playroom I've prepared for you? In it, I have a chest filled with all kinds of toys... dolls, stuffed animals, anything you can dream of. And in the library there are many children's books that are sure to delight you!” to which the child replied in an excited and happy tone of voice: “I would love to Father! In fact... I simply cannot wait to see all of that and anything else you would care to show me.” And there was genuine warmth and longing in the little girl's voice that was as far removed from her earlier coldness as you can get. Thinking the ice was at the last broken, Shannon offered to her: “Oh, and Terika! Also, if you would like I could show you all those new dresses and other clothes that I've purchased for you... the finest materials, the softest of fabrics. I got them all just for you! How about it?” to which the little girl coldly said: “Yes, Shannon! That would be nice. I like pretty clothes very much.” It was not her imagination after all... Terika most definitely did seem to dislike her, compared to her husband. A daddy's girl, and this was not unusual for some girls to be that way. Ah well, nothing for it! But the sheer awkwardness of this lingered like a storm cloud over the dining room table, and try she could to be friendly towards the child, nothing seemed to work well.
Terika decided to see the clothes first, and let Shannon take her on a tour of the side chamber just off from the little girl's bedroom where a vast wardrobe was present, along with several jewelry boxes that were filled with necklaces, bracelets, rings and hair ribbons of every imaginable variety. There were so many wardrobe closets and chests of drawers, and cabinets filled with beautiful clothing that there was no disguising the wonder that filled the little girl's eyes, which went wide as she looked about with no small measure of approval. Once she saw the variety and quality of the clothes and the softness of the fabrics, she simply had to try some of these new outfits on! And so she did. In the end, she settled on an outfit that Shannon had not expected her to be enthusiastic about. A pair of voluminous silk pantaloons of Turkish make, scarlet in color, that had gold trim and some white frills added by skilled tailors to the ankles. The waist and ankles were tied with drawstrings. Tucked into these exquisite pants was a white blouse with long billowing sleeves much like the sleeves of the girl's nightgown that she had worn the night previous, and over this Terika donned a velvet vest the same red color as the pants. A pair of soft gold slippers meant for lounging about the house graced the little girl's feet. To complete her look, the little girl wore jewelry to complement the clothing and she stood in front of the large mirror in one of the corners of the room and smiled as she saw how radiant she looked. Shannon did not know what sort of clothing children wore in Romania, so she assumed this was something akin to that, and accepted it.
“So, my dear, what do you think?” Asked Shannon, to which Terika replied: “I look perfect! As I had expected I would in these clothes.” and she then adjusted her hair and put it in the same style she wore when she was first introduced to the couple... choosing that, as her hairstyle for the day. “Do you think, Shannon, that Father will like me in this outfit?” the child asked her adopted mother who said in just as sweet a tone of voice as was pleasing to hear: “Oh, I have no doubt! He seems to adore you very much. Wait until you see that playroom he mentioned during breakfast... it was expensive to furnish, but well worth it and we had the money to spare to see to it. Cost is no object to us, as regards your happiness!” On hearing that, Terika smiled in a satisfied way and said simply one word: “Good!” and that was that. Following this, she walked out of the room and said to Shannon on the way out: “This will all do nicely I should think... I will go to meet Father and see about that playroom now. It sounds like fun!” and she managed a smile which was more than Shannon had expected she would receive from the child at this point. She was getting used to Terika's cold manner towards her even if she did not fully understand it. “Can you find the way alright, dear? I could escort you there, if you like!” but Terika insisted that she could find it well enough on her own. “I need to get used to this house, and this is as good a time to do so as any. I will be alright, Shannon, do not worry about me.” said the little girl with a tiny measure of friendliness added in. “So... perhaps she does not hate me after all.” mused the woman to herself as she watched her daughter walk out of the room. She thought Terika was a strange girl, but perhaps now all would begin to go better. She put the clothes that Terika had not wished to wear but which she had tried on away, not wishing to bother the servants with such a simple task. Then, she decided to have a talk with the kitchen servants about suggestions for tonight's supper. It was only morning still, but never too late to inquire about the next meal, which could take some time to prepare. Best to have it planned in advance, just in case it would take several hours to make! Her mind was in many directions... all busy.
Whilst Randolph was busy dusting the toys in the playroom... he heard small footsteps, padding upon the carpeted hallways outside. He opened the door and standing there smiling up at him was Terika, and she was wearing a beautiful, exquisite costume the likes of which he had only fantasized about seeing a woman wearing whilst in his presence. A secret fantasy he always harbored, involving exotic women of a wilder disposition than that of his rather mild mannered wife. The Turkish outfit that he had asked of his wife to purchase for the girl in case her tastes ran in that direction as some girls did. Even so, he had no inclination she would choose it to wear for their first time alone together. But a part of him, a part he felt guilty to admit existed, was delighted that she did! His grayish blue eyes went wide with wonder as he said to the little girl in a happy manner: “Well, Terika! Come in, come in... I am happy to see you've decided to pay the playroom a visit. Very lovely choice of clothing, by the way! I approve very much.” and as she glided into the room with a dancer's grace, the child said to him with that delightful accent of hers adding a certain music to her words as she spoke them: “I am happy you approve, Father! I had a strong feeling you would, which is why I chose this outfit.” She drew close to him, and she caressed his arm as she slid her hand into his. Her face was filled with the same expression she had during the meal earlier that morning. He was wearing a black suit in a similar style to his brown one but it was a softer and more comfortable suit to wear, one made for casual occasions rather than for business. He took off the suit's jacket and vest and laid them both on a chair nearby. He had on a black silk shirt that was of a style more suited to the previous century, but it was comfortable and something he was used to wearing. A style he had never quite grown out of over the years. Terika walked about, having a look at all of the toys in the room whilst her father did this. She felt this man had a certain noble bearing to him, with his aquiline nose and his small mouth, his almond shaped eyes... those blue, beautiful eyes of his. There, in those eyes, was something of a storm and the little girl found their color alluring. She longed to be lost in that storm! Her thoughts were not a child's thoughts... but, her soul and spirit were also not a child's.
“Do you like the toys, Terika?” her father asked, and she said to Randolph in answer: “You know that I do... you chose them so well, and you picked all the things I used to play with back when last you and I were part of a family together. Back during the last century. Times were different back then! And now it seems things have changed a great deal... you have lost your accent, whereas I never quite was able to do so. I would think you a proper English gentleman now... but we both know you are neither English nor a gentleman. Only when it suits you to masquerade as both those things!” Randolph sat down on a comfortable chair in a corner between a toy box and a glass cabinet containing porcelain dolls. Once he was situated, his daughter sauntered over and sat herself on his lap. Her hands caressed his chest as she unbuttoned his shirt, she felt the hair of his chest beneath her fingers and she liked how soft it felt to the touch. He placed one arm about her to draw her in closer and with his other hand he ran it up one of her legs, caressing her thigh and then feeling her in a place typically forbidden for an adult to touch when it comes to a child. The place between her legs. They kissed passionately, and it was not the kiss that any father and daughter normally enjoy. She whispered his true name into his ear as she licked his earlobe playfully, her sweet breath on his neck. He spoke hers, and it was not the names they were known by to the world. “I think your wife suspects us.” she said during the course of their sport as she straddled his lap and fumbled to get his manhood out from his pants and undergarments. He guided her hand, helped her in this as he said: “Of course she does, she is not a fool. But soon... it will just be you and I here, if all goes according to plan. And then... we can proceed with our plans with no one to oppose our desire.” She bent down, arching her back and sticking up her buttocks as she licked the head of her father's cock playfully. His hands were feeling her buttocks, and he liked how it felt in his hands. He liked how all of this felt, and his eyes rolled up in his head as he closed them and gave in to the pleasure he experienced. Then, she got off his lap, got down on the floor with her buttocks sticking up... and right as soon as she did this he pulled down her pants and her undergarments and he did thrust the shaft of his manhood into her ass after pouring a bit of liquid on it that he took from out of the nearby toy box, a liquid as used for sexual lubrication. She felt his cock penetrating her, sliding between her buttocks as it entered her in the rear, and he began to heave as he went in and out of her. She was not a virgin and had not been since the last century... since he had claimed her and made her his own. No part of her had not been defiled, and no part of her was unknown to this man's most depraved passions, lusts, and desires. For today, it would be this way... perhaps tomorrow, he would enter her through the cleft of her girlhood. Neither portal of entry was tight any longer, she had been amply loosened up and no longer tore when he took her by way of either hole. Sometimes, when her ass was being pounded as now it was, it hurt a little... but there in that pain she found pleasure as well. And her cries were a mixture of pain and pleasure in equal and just as intense measure. He fucked her hard and fast, and roughly... and when he had reached the point of his full climax and did orgasm into her ass, the liquid shooting up into her hotly, he clutched her hair and pulled it a bit as he called her words and names that were obscenities. “Yes, Father! I am your slut, your whore, your obedient little strumpet... use me however you like, Father. Body and soul, I am your own creature, your own slave... you own me, body and soul.” and she meant every word of that. All of it was the literal truth! It was he who had arranged for her to come to England from her native country. From their native country. It was his idea for his wife to choose her to adopt, though he had Shannon believe that the idea was her own originally. All in an effort to get her at his side once more, so that at last their plans could commence. All this time, he had been laying the groundwork of what was to soon transpire... and now, nothing would stop them. Nothing could! He said to her as they both did lay on the floor together, clutching each other tightly: “My little goddess... how the people of this land will learn to fear us! Even as we were feared back home.” She kissed his lips, nibbling at them ever so playfully as she said to the man who currently called himself Randolph: “They'd better! We will start with your wife, I think... it is time for the masks to come off and for the terror to begin. She is ripe for such fear!”
All of the servants knew that their master and the little girl were a couple from the previous century... they knew what those two truly were, and much like the sailors who had brought Terika to England they were in on everything that Randolph and Terika planned. Only Shannon... poor, innocent Shannon... did to her credit know nothing about any of this. The women who ran the orphanage, they too were part of the plan such as it was... they knew how to deceive, how to mask what they truly were now that they no longer were fully human. They knew how to lie, how to feign ignorance of certain things, and how also to cover for the pair whom they served without question. It was a simple matter to get the two together once again, just in time for the next meeting of the cult who worshiped Randolph as a living god. That same who met with him and who his wife Shannon believed were merely his work colleagues. The man and his child bride were gaining in power once again... and it would not be long before they could work an infernal will upon a country that was not at all expecting such am unholy thing to transpire as what these two thus intended to see happen. Randolph had used Shannon merely as a means to an end, and her blood and life force... it would be a sacrifice pleasing to the unspeakable horrors that posed as the ancient gods whom he did serve loyally. Gods who had made their power known in the unnatural storm that had transpired! It was autumn, it was the ancient pagan season of Samhain... the dark time of year. Terika's favorite season of all! Oh how she loved all of the fall colors, the leaves just before they turned brown and died... but first they were so bright in their shades of gold and crimson and fiery orange, and sunlit yellow. And it was those colors... those bright colors, that she adored so much. She saw it as the most purely natural manifestation of the beautiful side of death... the side mortal minds were not meant to consider or understand. But she was not mortal! Not any longer. She was also no longer... whatever it was Randolph had changed her into long ago. She did exist now as something else, something a great deal more... and tonight, she planned to make known her truest self. It was time, for the biggest storm!
Shannon looked out the window of the upstairs lounge to see two carriages arrive, and out of them so clambered the men and women who were known to her as her husbands colleagues. She was not aware of a meeting today, but clearly it was something Randolph simply forgot to tell her about. “Strange, but I suppose that is just how things are sometimes.” she mused aloud to herself. Then, she wondered what it was her daughter was up to and decided to go and have a look about the house to see if she could in short order find Terika. “If my husband is preparing for a meeting... the child has to be occupied in the playroom I should think. That was the last place she was headed to, so it makes logical sense.” she did think to herself, but at the risk of seeming insane she did not say that out loud. And so the woman did make her way to the playroom, but she found it empty. That was when she heard the loud voices of the servants announcing the names of the visitors so that Randolph would know they had arrived. Soon, it was the sound of chatter between them, her husband, and their daughter that she heard. So, Terika was with him still! And he was introducing her to his colleagues. Strange, since he never introduced her to them. She felt betrayed by that, just a bit. The playroom was right above the main foyer, and so if she strained to listen hard and intently enough, Shannon was certain she could hear at least some of what was being discussed down there. It sounded like they were planning some kind of ceremony, and they were going to conduct it in the study area. She could not make out any of the details, but it sounded as if Terika was going to be involved in it somehow. The tone of voice some the visitors used was rather almost fearful, even worshipful in regards to the little girl. Something was very wrong here, and even if it was not proper Shannon intended to find a way to either spy or listen in on the ceremony in order to discover what it was her daughter's role in it actually was. She heard their hurrying footsteps, going off in the direction of the study area with a bit of haste... and she hurried herself to one of the rooms that adjoined the library, waiting until everyone had gone into the study before proceeding. She then had to wait until the servants passed through the hallway outside before moving into a room next to the study.
In that room, she could hear everything going on in the study, and the voices of her husband, of his colleagues, and of Terika herself could be heard clearly without being too muffled to make out. No one knew Shannon was in there, and so she sat down and relaxed upon a couch near the wall that separated this room from the study... and she listened to hear what was being discussed. “She is ready to fully and gloriously come into her full power!” said one of the women, and an old man replied: “All it takes is to spill the blood of one unsuspecting, and with the blood and the life force contained within it... the child will be ready to transform everyone whom she has brought into her service. Her will shall reach out, as all of us wherever in London we may be will be changed and made greater than we presently are.” And Terika declared: “You have all been patient, my flock... but soon, you will be sheep no more but scarlet wolves to hunt the slumbering sheep of London when night falls and the storm descends. The thunder of tonight's storm will mask the sound of countless screams, and we shall feast on many! Their blood, their life force, shall be our sustenance as an orgy of violence and madness is conducted. Wherever it is they may be, my people will give in to their most suppressed and depraved urges. The police will not be able to stop all of the murders, the rapes, and the horrors that are about to be perpetrated... and when all is done, and the slaughter and defilement is over... the deity we serve shall descend from the heavens as the waters of the seas rage. It will be the end of the era of Christ, and the return of our time! You all on your person bear the mark of our divinity... there is no going back. I go forth to usher in this era with a sacrifice of the sort that is required. Wait here, chant my praises, and when I have succeeded in the fell endeavor I am about to undertake... you will know, because you will all be changed.” Then, the sound of the little girl walking across the floor and exiting the study could be heard. Randolph unlocked the study door to allow his daughter to leave it unhindered, and he then closed it and locked it again as he guided his colleagues in a disturbing chant in some guttural language the likes of which Shannon had never heard the like of before. “Where is Terika off to?” Shannon wondered silently to herself. “And what sort of sacrifice is she actually planning? They said something about spilling the blood of one who is unsuspecting... one of the servants no doubt. So she is planning to murder one of the servants... I had better find them first, and warn them to watch out for her. But what if they don't believe me? I'll just be having to risk it... this is a matter of life and death. My husband is a member of some sort of devil's cult and apparently my daughter is the one leading it! This is all insane... insane. But I need to hurry, quick.” And without another thought, the woman sped off quickly but silently to seek out as many of the house servants as she could find... hopefully before her evil daughter could get to any of them with vile intent.
Not only did none of the servants believe her, but they acted like Shannon was out of her mind and in the words of one of them... she was behaving hysterical and needed to rest herself and try to think more rationally. What's more, she noticed Terika was following her all throughout the house and stalking her in a way... she saw the little girl standing in the shadows of the kitchen when she went there to talk to the servants who were there, and again the child was present when she went to speak with the servants who were busy with their chores in the cellar. Both times, Terika looked right at her and smiled in the most sinister of ways. “She is waiting for me to do something. But what?” she mused to herself as she made her way back to her own chambers to think for a bit. She felt like the mouse being toyed with by the cat... and then she realized the truth as soon as that thought came to her. She was indeed the prey in this hunt, and her daughter was the predator hunting her. Terika was not after one of the servants... she was after Shannon herself! And as if right on cue.... as she did lay down on her bed for a moment to try and gather her thoughts to decide what to do next... the little girl was standing at the foot of her bed. It was impossible! She had not heard the girl enter the room, and there was no way she could have been able to move that silently. But there she was, smiling in a very frightening manner as she said coldly to Shannon: “Hello there, Shannon. Something must be troubling you. Care to tell me about it... Mother?”
And that was the first and only time Terika had called her mother... ironic, given she meant to kill her. She said to the little girl: “Yes, daughter, something is troubling me very much... the fact that you intend to murder me. I heard everything that went on in the study, I know what you are involved in. What you are the leader of... some devil worshiping, homicidal cult! I know that my husband is a part of it also... and that your cult plans some sort of series of murderous crimes once night falls tonight. You will have to forgive me if I intend to stop you from getting this madness off to its' start. What kind of mother, at all, would I be if I did not stop you?” Then, Shannon darted up and lunged forward towards the child, who was suddenly not there. The little girl vanished the second the woman's hands were about to touch her, as if Terika's presence in her room was merely a hallucination. She would have thought she going mad, had she not right after that heard the sound of the child's voice singing from someplace within the room, even though nobody was there to be seen. Shannon searched every closet and wardrobe, and at the last opened the door to her room and looked up and down the hallway outside it. All was silent and there was nobody there... the singing having stopped. Suddenly, Terika's voice came from behind her as the little girl said: “I always win at hide and seek, Shannon! Always.” and with that, the child plunged a sharp blade of some kind into her mother's back, managing to sink it deep but missing anything vital by a good margin. Shannon spun around but again there was nobody there... however, she raced to a mirror to see that indeed there was a dagger sticking out of her back, an oddly serpentine shaped blade with an ornate gold hilt that had a ruby set into the pommel. The handle was covered with leather straps. One of her husband's precious antiquities from abroad, no doubt! She had a difficult time doing so, but with a great deal of effort and much straining, the woman was able to at last remove the dagger from her back. She cast it unto the floor and saw that she was bleeding profusely from the wound. She tore a strip of clean white cloth off one of her dresses in a nearby closet, and wrapped it tightly around herself so that the wound was by this means bound as best as it could be for the moment. The pain was excruciating... and she was still bleeding quite a bit through the makeshift bandage. It was only a matter of time, and surely Terika would try again to end her life. She picked up the dagger, and thought to herself: “That, was a big mistake little girl! Leaving me your murder weapon... so I have something to defend myself with when you come back to finish me off.” And she sat in her room, nervous, as one of the clocks that was elsewhere in the house did chime out the hour. She needed to have one of the servants tend to her wound more thoroughly, and she was most certainly going to need stitches sooner rather than later... it was only a matter of time before she bled to death otherwise. She was not paying attention to the time, but outside it looked like it was approaching late afternoon. It would be dark soon, and by that time... if she was not dead yet... she knew very well that Terika would be much more intent on putting an end to her. The evil she and her cult were planning fully depended on the onset of nightfall in order for things to happen as they had planned it all out. If she could find a way to dispatch the child first, she could by chance save all of London from the horrors that awaited it otherwise. “This is mad... mad! I cannot in truth believe I am contemplating killing my own daughter. This cannot be real... none of this can be real and it must be a nightmare I am close to waking up from. I refuse to believe this is real!” she was in the process of rocking back and forth on her bed, clutching the bloody dagger in her hands as she said that out loud over and over again, her voice hysterical with fear and outrage. Suddenly, Terika was sitting on the bed next to her and whispering in her ear: “But I am real, Shannon. I am real!” Shannon screamed, tried to reach over to stab her daughter with the dagger... but once again failed to strike anything when the little girl vanished into thin air. The sound of the child's singing returned, and this time Shannon did cry and scream and laugh in turns as her sanity began to slip towards madness. “Please, please Terika... stop all of this insanity. Let's go back to being a family again!” to which her daughter replied: “We were never a family, Shannon. And no one needs an extra wheel on a carriage. But I'll tell you what... if you kill yourself with that dagger, and save me the trouble of doing the deed myself, I will call you Mother.”
“One... last... time.” the little girl added, to which Shannon loudly cried out: “Never, bitch! You rotten little bitch... you stole my husband from me, I know you did.” and the little girl's voice hissed: “I cannot steal what is already mine, and which has been since before you were even born! If anything... you stole him from me.” And suddenly, out of nowhere... Shannon felt something sharp biting into her neck as an old cavalry saber decapitated her. It was the last thing, she ever felt. One of the more readily disposable male servants, would later on be blamed for the crime of her murder, and no one would ever so think to suspect a little girl could be in truth capable of possessing the strength to do such a deed. Another storm began in earnest, the very moment that the woman's blood poured unto the floor and her severed head rolled unto the puddle of it. All around London there were random criminal acts perpetrated by people from mostly every conceivable walk of life. Mothers smothered their children in their beds. Sons raped their mothers or their sisters after killing their fathers. Carriage drivers rode over random passers-by, as well as riding over animals in the streets, both deeds being intentional. There were robberies committed by people who had never robbed before, muggings committed by children who had beforehand been of the most innocent seeming sorts... gangs of teenagers destroying property when just the Sunday past the lot of them had been seen praying devoutly in church. Fathers defiled their daughters, even whilst at the same time elsewhere in London prostitutes killed the clients they had been engaged with for the night. The madness continued for twenty four hours precisely, during which every horrid or depraved deed as ever had been suppressed or stifled within these peoples' minds or hearts had been given in to finally in a veritable orgy of crimes, all of them committed within the span of a single twenty four hour's span of time. None of these acts were connected, and some of them had no motive to them beyond the deed, as the police determined that people simply had gone mad from the storm. Not all of the perpetrators were caught, and not all of the crimes they committed were solved or even known about. Some, got off free and clear, their deeds a secret known only to they themselves. Not every crime was reported and many were simply not known about at all save for some of the more extreme murders and the destruction of property, and mostly all of the public things that could not help but be noticed by witnesses. In the end, there were a far lower number of crimes reported and solved than those that actually took place, and so the chaos of that twenty four hours of horror passed without being remarked upon all that much. For at this same time, the police were busy attempting to resolve the Jack the Ripper case that perplexed them to no end. They had little time for a series of random acts of criminal behavior on the part of what they wrote off as mentally unstable people. Naturally, the ones who were brought to justice were placed in asylums for the criminally insane, rather than prison. Whatever it was, that the cult that followed after the whims of Terika wanted to happen, the results were more subtle and far less apocalyptic than they had imagined. Randolph and Terika Freeman left England forty eight hours later by ship, and the ship set sail for Greece by long and circuitous ways. From Greece, the pair planned to travel ultimately, and as swiftly as possible, to Romania in order to thus return to their native homeland. It was by this route that Terika had arrived in England, and so it was fitting that she departed from England the same way. The cult that followed them continued to be engaged in all manner of sinister occult activities in all of the countries that they had followers in. But after the ghastly twenty four hours of utterly depraved and bloody horror, neither Randolph nor Terika was involved with them in such a close and direct sort of an association ever again. The cult had served its' purpose and believed the lies they were fed, lies that still formed the basis of their entire belief system. No distant and unspeakable eldritch deity was waiting to bestow power upon them and if they were changed in any capacity it was only ever on the inside, whilst on the outside they remained ever as human as all of them had always been. However, neither Randolph nor Terika so aged a single day... and they would remain in the world in the centuries to come, living in the shadows and sowing chaos wherever they could. For, not all eldritch gods or goddesses come from the heavens or the seas... and the ones who walk in flesh, those same can be the most frightening of all.
At the height of the Victorian era, there came to the shores of England a certain unwanted visitor who arrived at the docks when a visiting ship sailed almost silently into port on one cloudy, solitary evening. The ship was piloted by a rather small and sparse crew that all had strangely pallid skin and frightened, wide eyes. They were as silent as the dead, and went about their business as if nothing else in the world existed. After the ship had docked and the crew disembarked following the depositing of their cargo in a warehouse a good distance from the usual warehouses most ship crews of proper repute used... no one saw precisely where the men went, the sailors having gone off this way and that throughout may of the districts where most decent folk preferred never to venture at such a late hour of the night. Whatever it may be that their business was, they kept it to themselves and not one man spoke a word to anyone. In the midst of this strangeness, a small figure in a black cloak... lithe and nimble... did sneak through the back alleys of London with no haste but much secrecy. No one saw this person, no one knew that they were even about. They had come from the ship, and now it was time for them to be about whatever it was their particular, peculiar business might be. The crew had been simple to bend to their will, but the act of doing this had weakened this individual to a certain extent that was unexpected in how sudden the onset of it was... so now, it was needful for this one to be finding a means to recover their strength back its' former heights. Killing was not an option in such a bustling city as this, at least not yet... thus, the need for subtler means was in order, and all it would take was draining a bit of the life force from an errant beggar or two and if such as they perished accidentally no one might think twice about it. Such as they had weaker life forces than was preferred, but they would do in a pinch, and this was a matter of the utmost need. The journey over the waters over which the vessel had traveled was long, and it was possible to drain only so much from the crew without losing them to death's embrace. But London was a large city indeed, and filled with a great deal of vitality. Plenty to spare, and nothing to lose by trying!
There came to be, in a small orphanage on the outskirts of London... two visitors of a mind to adopt a child into their home. The man was middle aged and wearing an expensive brown suit with fine trim as befitted a fellow of his wealth and social standing. He had a bowler hat the same color as his suit, and he took it off his head as he entered the building. He was well mannered, had a mustache that he kept as neatly trimmed and immaculate as one could want, and he was strong and intelligent in ways that many women found attractive. He shook off his umbrella, for it had been raining out and he and his wife had to walk a ways from the carriage to the front door of the orphanage. Then, he smiled to the receptionist and asked her a number of questions after telling her his name, which was Randolph Freeman. His hair was long but neatly trimmed and tied back in a neat ponytail with a gold cord. He was not actually from England originally, nor was his name in truth his original name... but, he had been in this country long enough that no one would have taken him for a foreigner. He had the look of an Englishman, and ever the manners of a gentleman of the utmost nobility and class. His hair was black, his skin light but not at all pale... he did not like to wear brown, but on this occasion it was wise to make a good impression and this suit was the finest he owned. Being a member of a secret society had its' advantages, and he was as soon as he got to England able to be directed to the right job to suit his unique talents. Soon, he had in short order made a fortune doing what he did best, and his wife was so proud of him. She herself was a young woman well into her mid twenties, with flame red hair tied up in a neat bun in modest fashion. She was fair and freckled, obviously of Irish descent, her skin pallidly pink and her cheeks somewhat rosy. She wore a plain olive green dress on this occasion, mostly because the weather was bad outside with the rain coming down so strongly... and she had no wish to get her finer dresses soaked through. She was quiet, kept mostly to herself, and let her husband do the talking at the moment. She actually in truth was an extrovert, but this was a matter of business and such things her husband had the talent for.
“Shannon, it seems that we have been approved for the adoption and the child we had our eye on will be ready for us to take home within the hour. Does that not make you happy?” Randolph turned about to say this to his wife. She smiled sweetly, and replied: “Indeed, husband, it does! I always prayed for a daughter, but God never saw fit to grant me one... at least this way, we can have one after all.” She was, as her private physician told her, barren and that is to say she was unable to bear a child from her body. Being prone to occasional sickness and bouts of weakness, that may have been for the best since it was known that women in such condition as she oft suffered from did not always survive childbirth. It was a wise decision to adopt, whether she had been barren or not, and though the day was frightful and surely the night would be worse in terms of the weather... it was a joyful moment for Shannon Freeman. Only an hour, her husband had said... not too long to wait! She sat herself down on a chair, just across from the reception desk, and waited patiently. Her husband paced nervously, and seemed to be a far distance removed from his present location with his mind filled with whatever preoccupied him so. “I wonder... where do his thoughts go in these moments?” Shannon mused to herself, but then allowed her thoughts to turn towards the future and what it was going to be like to be a mother finally. After an hour passed in this way, one of the women who was in charge of the orphanage came out of a side room and at her side, holding her hand, was a young girl of ten years who had a beautiful, cherubic face and hair of the rarest blue black color. The little girl had her hair tied up in the back, and it cascaded down her back in its' naturally wavy fashion. She had curled bangs above her thin eyebrows, and the ribbon that held her hair back was scarlet in color and tied in a neat bow. Her lips were plump, her skin fair, and her eyes a rich shade of brown as like unto the soil of the very earth beneath one's feet. The child wore a beautiful red velvet dress and her white silken bloomers peeked out beneath the skirts of it. She wore black dress shoes on her feet, and she bowed with an elegant curtsy as soon as she saw the couple who waited so very patiently for her to emerge from the rooms in which the mistress of the orphanage got her ready to be on her way to her new life. The young girl smiled at Randolph brightly... and she was introduced to the married couple formally. “Her name, as you know, is Terika, and she is from Romania originally. It accounts for her accent, most definitely, which is very pronounced but she understands English so well that I would think she must have had some tutelage in the language from her earliest years. Normally, it is not our policy at this orphanage to take in children from other countries, but this one was in need so greatly when she arrived... weak and sickly as she was, at the time... that it would have surely been the most criminal of acts to refuse to take charge of her and care for her. It seems that sickness was but the most passing of things, since normally she is healthy and full of energy like any other child at her age.” All of this was explained by the matronly woman who accompanied the little girl. Afterwards, Terika so said in perfect English but with the aforementioned accent: “I am very pleased that you have chosen to take me into your home, mister Freeman. I hope I will be very happy there and bring you much joy!” It was said in a way that felt personally directed towards the man himself rather than to he and his wife as a couple. Randolph smiled back, and said in a polite and fatherly manner: “Dear girl, it will be honestly a pleasure to take you into our home! My wife has desired a child for so long now, and she has taken to you quite strongly after our first meeting with you was concluded. And you are such a pretty girl! It is without a doubt you will bring light and joy into our house and hearts.” The little girl walked over to the man and placed her hand in his, as the woman who had brought her hither gave all of the necessary paperwork into the couple's keeping. Once the full measure of the adoption's details were seen to and the matter concluded, the couple and their new daughter returned to their carriage, where the driver had been awaiting their return patiently. “Off we go now, everyone! The weather's getting worse by a lot, so time to head on home it is.” the driver said with a smile, tipping his hat to the little girl and attempting to appear as friendly as possible. The child smiled, and for the most part it was a quiet drive home. The wind picked up towards the end of the journey, and the booming thunder could be heard in the distance.
It was not odd for a mid October day to end with such a storm, but what did seem strange was how at ease with it Terika was when her new parents put her to bed. “Aren't you in the least bit frightened at all by that terrible thunder?” Shannon asked her, and the child's reply was an almost cold comment. It was as follows: “Sometimes, storms come in from over the seas... and, this is the dark time of year. As days become shorter, night falls swiftly! I fear neither the coming of night nor the storm.” She in no capacity spoke after the manner of a child, but used words and had a depth to their wording that was subtle and mature. This, Shannon simply attributed to the child having had a decent education early on, since child prodigies oft were of a more mature mentality than their peers. And her coldness... well, after all, it was only their first night in the same house and Shannon was mostly a stranger to her. The little girl would, most certainly, warm up to her in time! “Well... good night, Terika, and have pleasant dreams.” said the new mother, and she made certain the lamps were off in the little girl's room so she could sleep without any distractions. She had already purchased a full wardrobe for the child, and the girl wore a soft, silky nightgown with full, billowing sleeves that had frills at the cuffs. “I wonder if she suffers from any bad dreams or night terrors?” Shannon wondered as she closed the door to Terika's room and went off to try and see if she herself could sleep with the sounds of the storm raging outside. Her husband held her as tight as possible all through the night, and in the latest of hours she finally fell asleep. It was silly, was her last thoughts before dreams came upon her... silly, how a child could show no fear of something as always had frightened her since she herself had been the little girl's age. Silly or not, she felt deep fear! Shannon's dreams were terrifying, and though she knew they had been horrific she could not recall any details of them upon waking in the morning. She was thankful for that small mercy, however tiny it be.
A private tutor was hired for the child's schooling, and it was decided she should be schooled at home so that she would not be bullied in school for being so unusual and a foreigner besides. But they would wait a week to do that, and give the girl some time to get used to things about the house. The house, it was a good sized mansion just outside of London in a rural area far from the places that were showing signs of the beginnings of the earliest phases of industry's negative impact upon the environment. Not a factory in sight, and plenty of breathing room to spare, Shannon often thought whenever she looked out one of the windows of the large house. It was filled with all the comforts and opulence that her husband and she both favored and found good in life. A whole section of the house was converted into a library as well as a study area, and this was Randolph's favorite part of the place. He owned a vast collection of old books and occult objects in addition to various items of great antiquity that he had picked up during his travels abroad. He had visited many distant countries, and seen things foreign and exotic to the more grounded mind of his young wife. He held his meetings with his colleagues in the study area, and when they met the doors were locked and he never spoke even to his wife about what was discussed. He was a secretive man by nature, and something of an introvert... the fact that he opened up more to Shannon than to anybody was telling, because he told her precious little of certain things. Whilst telling her all in regards to pretty much everything else! She never quite understood exactly what it was the man did for a living... it was all very vague and very complicated, the things he did tell her about it. It involved his journeys abroad, and the gathering up of antiquities and rare items of value... and she knew that it was not criminal in nature. But it was a dark and mysterious business, whatever it was, and it paid so very well that the couple was set for life as regards money. Thus, she learned not to question it even though her mind sometimes when it wandered convinced her to consider looking into the matter more closely. But she never did, and became happy with things simply as they were. Now, her thoughts turned to her little girl, Terika, and she realized she had a responsibility to the child to make certain to think of her in the first part of all things, and so she kept her thoughts on her duties to the child and not on whatever it was her husband got up to with his colleagues. She was a sensible woman, and not prone to mad fancy.
Breakfast was decent, the kitchen servants had prepared the meal excellently, and everyone ate well, heartily, and happily enough. But during the meal, Shannon noticed that the little girl kept staring at her husband almost longingly, with that longing at one point becoming almost like the look a hungry person might have when appraising a longed for meal. She asked the child: “Terika, is something the matter? It appears you are just a bit... distracted... at present. What are you thinking about, dear?” And once more, the little girl spoke coldly to her as she said: “I am just thinking about the future, Shannon. I am happy to be here, after all.” but her voice was almost monotone, her words doing little to elaborate on what it was she was actually thinking about regarding the future. Shannon also noticed that Terika did not call her mother or any proper word for it. That distressed her just a bit, though she was happy that it seemed the girl was glad to be a part of what now was their family. What was more, Randolph noticed that his new daughter was staring at him in the way that she was, and he returned her gaze and smiled at her in a way that he had never smiled at his wife. A way she always wished he had smiled to her! And she had in her stomach a feeling of unease. Once more, she brushed off the worry and convinced herself that the man was simply trying to be friendly with the child and that there was nothing more to it than that. This was their first proper day as a family... and perhaps it was simply the awkwardness of that which caused her to imagine more to these things than there actually was. Randolph at one point during breakfast did ask Terika: “My dear, would you like it if later on I showed you the playroom I've prepared for you? In it, I have a chest filled with all kinds of toys... dolls, stuffed animals, anything you can dream of. And in the library there are many children's books that are sure to delight you!” to which the child replied in an excited and happy tone of voice: “I would love to Father! In fact... I simply cannot wait to see all of that and anything else you would care to show me.” And there was genuine warmth and longing in the little girl's voice that was as far removed from her earlier coldness as you can get. Thinking the ice was at the last broken, Shannon offered to her: “Oh, and Terika! Also, if you would like I could show you all those new dresses and other clothes that I've purchased for you... the finest materials, the softest of fabrics. I got them all just for you! How about it?” to which the little girl coldly said: “Yes, Shannon! That would be nice. I like pretty clothes very much.” It was not her imagination after all... Terika most definitely did seem to dislike her, compared to her husband. A daddy's girl, and this was not unusual for some girls to be that way. Ah well, nothing for it! But the sheer awkwardness of this lingered like a storm cloud over the dining room table, and try she could to be friendly towards the child, nothing seemed to work well.
Terika decided to see the clothes first, and let Shannon take her on a tour of the side chamber just off from the little girl's bedroom where a vast wardrobe was present, along with several jewelry boxes that were filled with necklaces, bracelets, rings and hair ribbons of every imaginable variety. There were so many wardrobe closets and chests of drawers, and cabinets filled with beautiful clothing that there was no disguising the wonder that filled the little girl's eyes, which went wide as she looked about with no small measure of approval. Once she saw the variety and quality of the clothes and the softness of the fabrics, she simply had to try some of these new outfits on! And so she did. In the end, she settled on an outfit that Shannon had not expected her to be enthusiastic about. A pair of voluminous silk pantaloons of Turkish make, scarlet in color, that had gold trim and some white frills added by skilled tailors to the ankles. The waist and ankles were tied with drawstrings. Tucked into these exquisite pants was a white blouse with long billowing sleeves much like the sleeves of the girl's nightgown that she had worn the night previous, and over this Terika donned a velvet vest the same red color as the pants. A pair of soft gold slippers meant for lounging about the house graced the little girl's feet. To complete her look, the little girl wore jewelry to complement the clothing and she stood in front of the large mirror in one of the corners of the room and smiled as she saw how radiant she looked. Shannon did not know what sort of clothing children wore in Romania, so she assumed this was something akin to that, and accepted it.
“So, my dear, what do you think?” Asked Shannon, to which Terika replied: “I look perfect! As I had expected I would in these clothes.” and she then adjusted her hair and put it in the same style she wore when she was first introduced to the couple... choosing that, as her hairstyle for the day. “Do you think, Shannon, that Father will like me in this outfit?” the child asked her adopted mother who said in just as sweet a tone of voice as was pleasing to hear: “Oh, I have no doubt! He seems to adore you very much. Wait until you see that playroom he mentioned during breakfast... it was expensive to furnish, but well worth it and we had the money to spare to see to it. Cost is no object to us, as regards your happiness!” On hearing that, Terika smiled in a satisfied way and said simply one word: “Good!” and that was that. Following this, she walked out of the room and said to Shannon on the way out: “This will all do nicely I should think... I will go to meet Father and see about that playroom now. It sounds like fun!” and she managed a smile which was more than Shannon had expected she would receive from the child at this point. She was getting used to Terika's cold manner towards her even if she did not fully understand it. “Can you find the way alright, dear? I could escort you there, if you like!” but Terika insisted that she could find it well enough on her own. “I need to get used to this house, and this is as good a time to do so as any. I will be alright, Shannon, do not worry about me.” said the little girl with a tiny measure of friendliness added in. “So... perhaps she does not hate me after all.” mused the woman to herself as she watched her daughter walk out of the room. She thought Terika was a strange girl, but perhaps now all would begin to go better. She put the clothes that Terika had not wished to wear but which she had tried on away, not wishing to bother the servants with such a simple task. Then, she decided to have a talk with the kitchen servants about suggestions for tonight's supper. It was only morning still, but never too late to inquire about the next meal, which could take some time to prepare. Best to have it planned in advance, just in case it would take several hours to make! Her mind was in many directions... all busy.
Whilst Randolph was busy dusting the toys in the playroom... he heard small footsteps, padding upon the carpeted hallways outside. He opened the door and standing there smiling up at him was Terika, and she was wearing a beautiful, exquisite costume the likes of which he had only fantasized about seeing a woman wearing whilst in his presence. A secret fantasy he always harbored, involving exotic women of a wilder disposition than that of his rather mild mannered wife. The Turkish outfit that he had asked of his wife to purchase for the girl in case her tastes ran in that direction as some girls did. Even so, he had no inclination she would choose it to wear for their first time alone together. But a part of him, a part he felt guilty to admit existed, was delighted that she did! His grayish blue eyes went wide with wonder as he said to the little girl in a happy manner: “Well, Terika! Come in, come in... I am happy to see you've decided to pay the playroom a visit. Very lovely choice of clothing, by the way! I approve very much.” and as she glided into the room with a dancer's grace, the child said to him with that delightful accent of hers adding a certain music to her words as she spoke them: “I am happy you approve, Father! I had a strong feeling you would, which is why I chose this outfit.” She drew close to him, and she caressed his arm as she slid her hand into his. Her face was filled with the same expression she had during the meal earlier that morning. He was wearing a black suit in a similar style to his brown one but it was a softer and more comfortable suit to wear, one made for casual occasions rather than for business. He took off the suit's jacket and vest and laid them both on a chair nearby. He had on a black silk shirt that was of a style more suited to the previous century, but it was comfortable and something he was used to wearing. A style he had never quite grown out of over the years. Terika walked about, having a look at all of the toys in the room whilst her father did this. She felt this man had a certain noble bearing to him, with his aquiline nose and his small mouth, his almond shaped eyes... those blue, beautiful eyes of his. There, in those eyes, was something of a storm and the little girl found their color alluring. She longed to be lost in that storm! Her thoughts were not a child's thoughts... but, her soul and spirit were also not a child's.
“Do you like the toys, Terika?” her father asked, and she said to Randolph in answer: “You know that I do... you chose them so well, and you picked all the things I used to play with back when last you and I were part of a family together. Back during the last century. Times were different back then! And now it seems things have changed a great deal... you have lost your accent, whereas I never quite was able to do so. I would think you a proper English gentleman now... but we both know you are neither English nor a gentleman. Only when it suits you to masquerade as both those things!” Randolph sat down on a comfortable chair in a corner between a toy box and a glass cabinet containing porcelain dolls. Once he was situated, his daughter sauntered over and sat herself on his lap. Her hands caressed his chest as she unbuttoned his shirt, she felt the hair of his chest beneath her fingers and she liked how soft it felt to the touch. He placed one arm about her to draw her in closer and with his other hand he ran it up one of her legs, caressing her thigh and then feeling her in a place typically forbidden for an adult to touch when it comes to a child. The place between her legs. They kissed passionately, and it was not the kiss that any father and daughter normally enjoy. She whispered his true name into his ear as she licked his earlobe playfully, her sweet breath on his neck. He spoke hers, and it was not the names they were known by to the world. “I think your wife suspects us.” she said during the course of their sport as she straddled his lap and fumbled to get his manhood out from his pants and undergarments. He guided her hand, helped her in this as he said: “Of course she does, she is not a fool. But soon... it will just be you and I here, if all goes according to plan. And then... we can proceed with our plans with no one to oppose our desire.” She bent down, arching her back and sticking up her buttocks as she licked the head of her father's cock playfully. His hands were feeling her buttocks, and he liked how it felt in his hands. He liked how all of this felt, and his eyes rolled up in his head as he closed them and gave in to the pleasure he experienced. Then, she got off his lap, got down on the floor with her buttocks sticking up... and right as soon as she did this he pulled down her pants and her undergarments and he did thrust the shaft of his manhood into her ass after pouring a bit of liquid on it that he took from out of the nearby toy box, a liquid as used for sexual lubrication. She felt his cock penetrating her, sliding between her buttocks as it entered her in the rear, and he began to heave as he went in and out of her. She was not a virgin and had not been since the last century... since he had claimed her and made her his own. No part of her had not been defiled, and no part of her was unknown to this man's most depraved passions, lusts, and desires. For today, it would be this way... perhaps tomorrow, he would enter her through the cleft of her girlhood. Neither portal of entry was tight any longer, she had been amply loosened up and no longer tore when he took her by way of either hole. Sometimes, when her ass was being pounded as now it was, it hurt a little... but there in that pain she found pleasure as well. And her cries were a mixture of pain and pleasure in equal and just as intense measure. He fucked her hard and fast, and roughly... and when he had reached the point of his full climax and did orgasm into her ass, the liquid shooting up into her hotly, he clutched her hair and pulled it a bit as he called her words and names that were obscenities. “Yes, Father! I am your slut, your whore, your obedient little strumpet... use me however you like, Father. Body and soul, I am your own creature, your own slave... you own me, body and soul.” and she meant every word of that. All of it was the literal truth! It was he who had arranged for her to come to England from her native country. From their native country. It was his idea for his wife to choose her to adopt, though he had Shannon believe that the idea was her own originally. All in an effort to get her at his side once more, so that at last their plans could commence. All this time, he had been laying the groundwork of what was to soon transpire... and now, nothing would stop them. Nothing could! He said to her as they both did lay on the floor together, clutching each other tightly: “My little goddess... how the people of this land will learn to fear us! Even as we were feared back home.” She kissed his lips, nibbling at them ever so playfully as she said to the man who currently called himself Randolph: “They'd better! We will start with your wife, I think... it is time for the masks to come off and for the terror to begin. She is ripe for such fear!”
All of the servants knew that their master and the little girl were a couple from the previous century... they knew what those two truly were, and much like the sailors who had brought Terika to England they were in on everything that Randolph and Terika planned. Only Shannon... poor, innocent Shannon... did to her credit know nothing about any of this. The women who ran the orphanage, they too were part of the plan such as it was... they knew how to deceive, how to mask what they truly were now that they no longer were fully human. They knew how to lie, how to feign ignorance of certain things, and how also to cover for the pair whom they served without question. It was a simple matter to get the two together once again, just in time for the next meeting of the cult who worshiped Randolph as a living god. That same who met with him and who his wife Shannon believed were merely his work colleagues. The man and his child bride were gaining in power once again... and it would not be long before they could work an infernal will upon a country that was not at all expecting such am unholy thing to transpire as what these two thus intended to see happen. Randolph had used Shannon merely as a means to an end, and her blood and life force... it would be a sacrifice pleasing to the unspeakable horrors that posed as the ancient gods whom he did serve loyally. Gods who had made their power known in the unnatural storm that had transpired! It was autumn, it was the ancient pagan season of Samhain... the dark time of year. Terika's favorite season of all! Oh how she loved all of the fall colors, the leaves just before they turned brown and died... but first they were so bright in their shades of gold and crimson and fiery orange, and sunlit yellow. And it was those colors... those bright colors, that she adored so much. She saw it as the most purely natural manifestation of the beautiful side of death... the side mortal minds were not meant to consider or understand. But she was not mortal! Not any longer. She was also no longer... whatever it was Randolph had changed her into long ago. She did exist now as something else, something a great deal more... and tonight, she planned to make known her truest self. It was time, for the biggest storm!
Shannon looked out the window of the upstairs lounge to see two carriages arrive, and out of them so clambered the men and women who were known to her as her husbands colleagues. She was not aware of a meeting today, but clearly it was something Randolph simply forgot to tell her about. “Strange, but I suppose that is just how things are sometimes.” she mused aloud to herself. Then, she wondered what it was her daughter was up to and decided to go and have a look about the house to see if she could in short order find Terika. “If my husband is preparing for a meeting... the child has to be occupied in the playroom I should think. That was the last place she was headed to, so it makes logical sense.” she did think to herself, but at the risk of seeming insane she did not say that out loud. And so the woman did make her way to the playroom, but she found it empty. That was when she heard the loud voices of the servants announcing the names of the visitors so that Randolph would know they had arrived. Soon, it was the sound of chatter between them, her husband, and their daughter that she heard. So, Terika was with him still! And he was introducing her to his colleagues. Strange, since he never introduced her to them. She felt betrayed by that, just a bit. The playroom was right above the main foyer, and so if she strained to listen hard and intently enough, Shannon was certain she could hear at least some of what was being discussed down there. It sounded like they were planning some kind of ceremony, and they were going to conduct it in the study area. She could not make out any of the details, but it sounded as if Terika was going to be involved in it somehow. The tone of voice some the visitors used was rather almost fearful, even worshipful in regards to the little girl. Something was very wrong here, and even if it was not proper Shannon intended to find a way to either spy or listen in on the ceremony in order to discover what it was her daughter's role in it actually was. She heard their hurrying footsteps, going off in the direction of the study area with a bit of haste... and she hurried herself to one of the rooms that adjoined the library, waiting until everyone had gone into the study before proceeding. She then had to wait until the servants passed through the hallway outside before moving into a room next to the study.
In that room, she could hear everything going on in the study, and the voices of her husband, of his colleagues, and of Terika herself could be heard clearly without being too muffled to make out. No one knew Shannon was in there, and so she sat down and relaxed upon a couch near the wall that separated this room from the study... and she listened to hear what was being discussed. “She is ready to fully and gloriously come into her full power!” said one of the women, and an old man replied: “All it takes is to spill the blood of one unsuspecting, and with the blood and the life force contained within it... the child will be ready to transform everyone whom she has brought into her service. Her will shall reach out, as all of us wherever in London we may be will be changed and made greater than we presently are.” And Terika declared: “You have all been patient, my flock... but soon, you will be sheep no more but scarlet wolves to hunt the slumbering sheep of London when night falls and the storm descends. The thunder of tonight's storm will mask the sound of countless screams, and we shall feast on many! Their blood, their life force, shall be our sustenance as an orgy of violence and madness is conducted. Wherever it is they may be, my people will give in to their most suppressed and depraved urges. The police will not be able to stop all of the murders, the rapes, and the horrors that are about to be perpetrated... and when all is done, and the slaughter and defilement is over... the deity we serve shall descend from the heavens as the waters of the seas rage. It will be the end of the era of Christ, and the return of our time! You all on your person bear the mark of our divinity... there is no going back. I go forth to usher in this era with a sacrifice of the sort that is required. Wait here, chant my praises, and when I have succeeded in the fell endeavor I am about to undertake... you will know, because you will all be changed.” Then, the sound of the little girl walking across the floor and exiting the study could be heard. Randolph unlocked the study door to allow his daughter to leave it unhindered, and he then closed it and locked it again as he guided his colleagues in a disturbing chant in some guttural language the likes of which Shannon had never heard the like of before. “Where is Terika off to?” Shannon wondered silently to herself. “And what sort of sacrifice is she actually planning? They said something about spilling the blood of one who is unsuspecting... one of the servants no doubt. So she is planning to murder one of the servants... I had better find them first, and warn them to watch out for her. But what if they don't believe me? I'll just be having to risk it... this is a matter of life and death. My husband is a member of some sort of devil's cult and apparently my daughter is the one leading it! This is all insane... insane. But I need to hurry, quick.” And without another thought, the woman sped off quickly but silently to seek out as many of the house servants as she could find... hopefully before her evil daughter could get to any of them with vile intent.
Not only did none of the servants believe her, but they acted like Shannon was out of her mind and in the words of one of them... she was behaving hysterical and needed to rest herself and try to think more rationally. What's more, she noticed Terika was following her all throughout the house and stalking her in a way... she saw the little girl standing in the shadows of the kitchen when she went there to talk to the servants who were there, and again the child was present when she went to speak with the servants who were busy with their chores in the cellar. Both times, Terika looked right at her and smiled in the most sinister of ways. “She is waiting for me to do something. But what?” she mused to herself as she made her way back to her own chambers to think for a bit. She felt like the mouse being toyed with by the cat... and then she realized the truth as soon as that thought came to her. She was indeed the prey in this hunt, and her daughter was the predator hunting her. Terika was not after one of the servants... she was after Shannon herself! And as if right on cue.... as she did lay down on her bed for a moment to try and gather her thoughts to decide what to do next... the little girl was standing at the foot of her bed. It was impossible! She had not heard the girl enter the room, and there was no way she could have been able to move that silently. But there she was, smiling in a very frightening manner as she said coldly to Shannon: “Hello there, Shannon. Something must be troubling you. Care to tell me about it... Mother?”
And that was the first and only time Terika had called her mother... ironic, given she meant to kill her. She said to the little girl: “Yes, daughter, something is troubling me very much... the fact that you intend to murder me. I heard everything that went on in the study, I know what you are involved in. What you are the leader of... some devil worshiping, homicidal cult! I know that my husband is a part of it also... and that your cult plans some sort of series of murderous crimes once night falls tonight. You will have to forgive me if I intend to stop you from getting this madness off to its' start. What kind of mother, at all, would I be if I did not stop you?” Then, Shannon darted up and lunged forward towards the child, who was suddenly not there. The little girl vanished the second the woman's hands were about to touch her, as if Terika's presence in her room was merely a hallucination. She would have thought she going mad, had she not right after that heard the sound of the child's voice singing from someplace within the room, even though nobody was there to be seen. Shannon searched every closet and wardrobe, and at the last opened the door to her room and looked up and down the hallway outside it. All was silent and there was nobody there... the singing having stopped. Suddenly, Terika's voice came from behind her as the little girl said: “I always win at hide and seek, Shannon! Always.” and with that, the child plunged a sharp blade of some kind into her mother's back, managing to sink it deep but missing anything vital by a good margin. Shannon spun around but again there was nobody there... however, she raced to a mirror to see that indeed there was a dagger sticking out of her back, an oddly serpentine shaped blade with an ornate gold hilt that had a ruby set into the pommel. The handle was covered with leather straps. One of her husband's precious antiquities from abroad, no doubt! She had a difficult time doing so, but with a great deal of effort and much straining, the woman was able to at last remove the dagger from her back. She cast it unto the floor and saw that she was bleeding profusely from the wound. She tore a strip of clean white cloth off one of her dresses in a nearby closet, and wrapped it tightly around herself so that the wound was by this means bound as best as it could be for the moment. The pain was excruciating... and she was still bleeding quite a bit through the makeshift bandage. It was only a matter of time, and surely Terika would try again to end her life. She picked up the dagger, and thought to herself: “That, was a big mistake little girl! Leaving me your murder weapon... so I have something to defend myself with when you come back to finish me off.” And she sat in her room, nervous, as one of the clocks that was elsewhere in the house did chime out the hour. She needed to have one of the servants tend to her wound more thoroughly, and she was most certainly going to need stitches sooner rather than later... it was only a matter of time before she bled to death otherwise. She was not paying attention to the time, but outside it looked like it was approaching late afternoon. It would be dark soon, and by that time... if she was not dead yet... she knew very well that Terika would be much more intent on putting an end to her. The evil she and her cult were planning fully depended on the onset of nightfall in order for things to happen as they had planned it all out. If she could find a way to dispatch the child first, she could by chance save all of London from the horrors that awaited it otherwise. “This is mad... mad! I cannot in truth believe I am contemplating killing my own daughter. This cannot be real... none of this can be real and it must be a nightmare I am close to waking up from. I refuse to believe this is real!” she was in the process of rocking back and forth on her bed, clutching the bloody dagger in her hands as she said that out loud over and over again, her voice hysterical with fear and outrage. Suddenly, Terika was sitting on the bed next to her and whispering in her ear: “But I am real, Shannon. I am real!” Shannon screamed, tried to reach over to stab her daughter with the dagger... but once again failed to strike anything when the little girl vanished into thin air. The sound of the child's singing returned, and this time Shannon did cry and scream and laugh in turns as her sanity began to slip towards madness. “Please, please Terika... stop all of this insanity. Let's go back to being a family again!” to which her daughter replied: “We were never a family, Shannon. And no one needs an extra wheel on a carriage. But I'll tell you what... if you kill yourself with that dagger, and save me the trouble of doing the deed myself, I will call you Mother.”
“One... last... time.” the little girl added, to which Shannon loudly cried out: “Never, bitch! You rotten little bitch... you stole my husband from me, I know you did.” and the little girl's voice hissed: “I cannot steal what is already mine, and which has been since before you were even born! If anything... you stole him from me.” And suddenly, out of nowhere... Shannon felt something sharp biting into her neck as an old cavalry saber decapitated her. It was the last thing, she ever felt. One of the more readily disposable male servants, would later on be blamed for the crime of her murder, and no one would ever so think to suspect a little girl could be in truth capable of possessing the strength to do such a deed. Another storm began in earnest, the very moment that the woman's blood poured unto the floor and her severed head rolled unto the puddle of it. All around London there were random criminal acts perpetrated by people from mostly every conceivable walk of life. Mothers smothered their children in their beds. Sons raped their mothers or their sisters after killing their fathers. Carriage drivers rode over random passers-by, as well as riding over animals in the streets, both deeds being intentional. There were robberies committed by people who had never robbed before, muggings committed by children who had beforehand been of the most innocent seeming sorts... gangs of teenagers destroying property when just the Sunday past the lot of them had been seen praying devoutly in church. Fathers defiled their daughters, even whilst at the same time elsewhere in London prostitutes killed the clients they had been engaged with for the night. The madness continued for twenty four hours precisely, during which every horrid or depraved deed as ever had been suppressed or stifled within these peoples' minds or hearts had been given in to finally in a veritable orgy of crimes, all of them committed within the span of a single twenty four hour's span of time. None of these acts were connected, and some of them had no motive to them beyond the deed, as the police determined that people simply had gone mad from the storm. Not all of the perpetrators were caught, and not all of the crimes they committed were solved or even known about. Some, got off free and clear, their deeds a secret known only to they themselves. Not every crime was reported and many were simply not known about at all save for some of the more extreme murders and the destruction of property, and mostly all of the public things that could not help but be noticed by witnesses. In the end, there were a far lower number of crimes reported and solved than those that actually took place, and so the chaos of that twenty four hours of horror passed without being remarked upon all that much. For at this same time, the police were busy attempting to resolve the Jack the Ripper case that perplexed them to no end. They had little time for a series of random acts of criminal behavior on the part of what they wrote off as mentally unstable people. Naturally, the ones who were brought to justice were placed in asylums for the criminally insane, rather than prison. Whatever it was, that the cult that followed after the whims of Terika wanted to happen, the results were more subtle and far less apocalyptic than they had imagined. Randolph and Terika Freeman left England forty eight hours later by ship, and the ship set sail for Greece by long and circuitous ways. From Greece, the pair planned to travel ultimately, and as swiftly as possible, to Romania in order to thus return to their native homeland. It was by this route that Terika had arrived in England, and so it was fitting that she departed from England the same way. The cult that followed them continued to be engaged in all manner of sinister occult activities in all of the countries that they had followers in. But after the ghastly twenty four hours of utterly depraved and bloody horror, neither Randolph nor Terika was involved with them in such a close and direct sort of an association ever again. The cult had served its' purpose and believed the lies they were fed, lies that still formed the basis of their entire belief system. No distant and unspeakable eldritch deity was waiting to bestow power upon them and if they were changed in any capacity it was only ever on the inside, whilst on the outside they remained ever as human as all of them had always been. However, neither Randolph nor Terika so aged a single day... and they would remain in the world in the centuries to come, living in the shadows and sowing chaos wherever they could. For, not all eldritch gods or goddesses come from the heavens or the seas... and the ones who walk in flesh, those same can be the most frightening of all.
Published 17th Oct 2023
All writing remains the property of the author. Don't use it for any purpose without their permission.
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