The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

The Parlor Room 
by K.R. Morrison 

Todd had been told about this train system, and the art along its walls. But he had not been prepared for the cave-like features that the architects had added.

He stepped off the train and just stood awestruck.

Surprisingly, it was not the walls or the fairy lights that enchanted him. Hie eye had been caught by a young lady in the far corner, next to a small restaurant. Even though her nose was in a book, he could see the beauty she was hiding behind that novel.

She looked up at the same moment, and gave him the sweetest smile. And…a nod?

His legs took over, and before he knew what was happening, he was standing next to her, gaping like an idiot.

“Hello.” She closed her book. “May I help you?”

When he stammered something, she tilted her head, uncomprehending.

He shook his head. “Ummm…yeah. I…need to get…”

“Dinner?”

That sounded right. “Yeah. That.”

She smiled that sweet smile again. “This place is the best in the station. Come in and we will dine together.”

Wordlessly, he followed her into the place. As they moved along, he noticed that the staff seemed to treat her like royalty.

“My usual, please, Jakob,” she called out to no one in particular.

Everyone moved. If Todd had been paying attention, he would have noticed that the movements contained a bit—no, a lot—of nervousness.

They came to a door in the back, which was opened immediately by an elderly waiter. She motioned Todd inside, where he was once again awestruck.

The place looked straight out of a fairy tale. Or maybe a place where the Phantom of the Opera may have resided at one time.

Their waiter pulled a chair away from the table with a flourish, and she sat down, indicating the chair opposite. Todd sat.

“We’ll have the usual, Jakob,” she said. The way she said it indicated that there would be no argument.

The waiter gave Todd a look of pure misery, which he missed, and hurried away.

“Do you like my dining room?” she asked Todd.

He stared at her, unable to take his eyes off her. “Um…yeah.”

Something cold landed on his arm, which startled him out of his bewitchment. He looked down and saw a strand of spider web on him. He whisked it away.

She looked up. “Sorry. The spiders. We can’t seem to keep them out.”

Todd shrugged. “No worries.”

They talked for what seemed to him like hours, heedless to the fact that no food ever appeared.

Todd was tiring, and—didn’t he need to catch a train?

He tried to stand up. “I…thanks, but I have to go.”

And he didn’t.

With growing alarm, he realized that he was stuck to his seat by great piles of spider web. And wisps kept falling.

He turned to his dinner companion, and gasped.

The smile on her face was no longer sweet, but very predatory.

Her eyes—now there were eight of them!

The red diadem she had worn as a necklace was now very much a part of her skin.

The last thing he knew, before the web took him completely, was the sight of two long fangs protruding from her mouth and coming at him…

She burped as she took up her spot outside the restaurant again. Almost immediately, a gape-mouthed young man came her way. She giggled to herself as she closed her book.

At this rate, she’d never finish reading this story.

.

Fiction © Copyright K.R. Morrison
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com.

More from K.R. Morrison:

Enoch’s Return: Pride’s Downfall Book 4

All hell broke loose, as demon fought saint, and undead fought mortal. Fangs and swords, fire and light, mingled in a cacophony of noise that would have awakened the dead — if they hadn’t already been in the pitch of battle.

Toby was looking forward to celebrating his 21st birthday with family and friends. However, the day is shattered by the arrival of his sister, Erica, fresh out of the juvenile detention center, where she has lived in isolation most of her life. There is something very wrong with her still; witness her biting the ear of her taxi driver and licking the blood from her lips, and the way she antagonizes everyone around her. The other thing that is very off-putting about the day is a gift he receives – a musty tent and a few iron spikes that have been lying in the ground for years. Toby faints at the sight of the “treasure,” while Erica reacts violently and runs off to who-knows-where.
While he is unconscious, Toby learns who he truly is, and of his mission.

Available on Amazon!