The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

… In the Pale Moon Light IX
by Lydia Prime

“Minerva McGonagall, eat your heart out.” Hecate sneered as her coat of black fur morphed into a cloak of black velvet. She tossed up her hood, and quickly walked into her decrepit domain. The cathedral’s appearance seemed to rival only that of the now fallen House of Usher. Hecate traipsed through the empty corridors, each step echoed in her wake. She strolled through the rubble with out a care and toyed with the pendant dangling from her neck.

She came to an ordinary room – decaying, just as the rest of the place – and waved her hand. Instantly, the metal bed frame before her transformed into a dark alter. Bones, blood, and even flesh, had been used in its creation. Hecate stood beside the alter and ripped her trinket from her neck. She held it over her skull-made cauldron and it began to levitate from her palm. A small tip of a black, hollowed out horn – taken from the mighty ruler of the under world himself, shook violently in mid air. A transparent face flowed from it, terror and pain etched there for eternity. A tortured wail was heard, one last attempt at pleading for freedom, before being sucked into the skull beneath. Hecate places her hand beneath the horn, and fastened it back to the red ribbon around her neck. “Seven down, two to go.” She smiled as she spoke aloud to the spirits she knew were listening.

Hecate had made a deal with the King of Hell, simply steal the souls of nine exceptional do-gooders and she would be granted eternal youth, immortality, and not to mention a permanent human form. She had no idea, or even slightest worry, of what sinister plans awaited those souls. She was close to her goal and she could taste the power that was awaiting her. The sun rose once more and she returned to her feline form; the alter, back to an unimpressive metal bed frame – and once again, Hecate ventured out to find her next offering.

Fiction © Copyright Lydia Prime
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More about Lydia Prime:

Lydia grew up in a small, ‘Mayberry,’ sort of town, in New Jersey. She thoroughly enjoys gummy bears and laughing through the darkest depths of life. More often than not, she writes about demons and monsters, however, being a recovering addict tends to turn inner demons into fearsome foes to be fought beyond the constraints of the mind. ‘Sometimes,’ she states, ‘what’s inside, is scarier than anything reality throws at you.’

Please visit Lydia on Facebook for more info.