The Barn

The woman had given up on pulling at her restraints. She was hanging from the ceiling of the barn, her hands tied to a hanging chain. She wore only a white dress. Cuts and bruises were littered all over her body. Her hair was plastered to her face; it had been quite hot lately. She lost count of how many days had passed. She was exhausted, hungry, and wishing that she never went home with that man. That handsome man that stole her breathe upon the first kiss. 

Her family warned her about people like that. That some men can be dangerous, hiding behind a mask among society, looking for people to prey on. She should never have gone over to his house. But it would have been impossible to predict this would happen to her. His sister and his little brother were in the home, talking upstairs. The guy she was seeing had made her a drink. It did taste strange, but she thought nothing of it. 

They had been dating for six months, so of course she wasn't expecting the worst. Surely monsters like him didn't wait that long until they tormented their victims, right? But he was one of the patient ones, and they are far scarier than your typical monster. Whatever he had drugged her with left her immobile, but she was conscious of what was going on around her. 

His sister came back downstairs, her eyes locked on her own. 

"I gave Henry enough to knock him out for the night. Do you think he will be happy with this one?"

"I'm not sure. We can only hope, sis."

There was disdain behind the man's voice, and his sister noticed it, like she did. 

"Be patient, brother. It will eventually come soon enough."

He muttered something under his breathe, but she couldn't hear. 

The sister slapped him across the face, and that was the end of the conversation. She felt terror flow through her body when she saw the smile on the man's face. The attractiveness she felt for him shattered, this was the smile of a lion, one that was eager to rip you apart with its teeth. 

She was dragged into a truck that night, and brought to a barn. Her clothes were removed. There were sinister intentions in the man's eyes, as he studied her naked body, but the sister gave him a look that sealed whatever evil thoughts were lingering in his mind, and he put a white dress on her. 

The man held her up, as the woman bound her hands with a rope, to the chain hanging from the ceiling of the barn. She was left there for who knows how long, as the sister would bring her food to keep her afloat. 

She only spoke once, and that line left a chill down her spine. 

"I can't have my brother looking after you. I made the mistake of leaving him alone with another one, and he left her so badly broken, we had no choice but to put her down."

The woman sobbed after hearing this, but she continued to eat as the sister fed her food from a plate. If she needed to use the bathroom, the woman would untie her, and hold a gun on her, so that she wouldn't run. She never did, in fear of getting killed. She had a family to go back to, and she wanted to make sure they would see her again. 

She didn't want to leave them suffering for years, the trauma of never finding her killing each of them one by one. She thought of her sister, her mother, and even her father, that had abandoned them when she was about eight years old. 

It's funny when you think about the people that left you filled with sadness. With a hole that couldn't ever be replaced. 

And now she was doing the same to her family. 

She bit back a sob. She had been doing a lot of that. It was tiring to cry all the time. 

The sister came back at some point during the day. This time, she brought her brother, and another stranger. This one was a woman, and she looked angry. Her hands were on her hips when she saw her, and she looked back and forth between the two siblings, as they were averting their eyes. 

"Are you fucking kidding me? This was the best you could do?"

None of them replied. 

The woman rolled her eyes to the ceiling. If it hadn't been for the exhausted state she was now in, she would have laughed. 

"Oh well. This one will have to do. God, I'm tired of these vessels. You would think I would be grateful being able to walk the Earth now…but I definitely prefer men. They have a lot more strength."

"Indeed we do," the brother replied. He sneered in the direction of his sister, who ignored him entirely. 

The woman walked up to her. She snapped her fingers, and she was suddenly thrust toward this woman, by an unseen force. She gasped, it was like someone had kicked her in the back, sending her sprawling toward this stranger. 

The woman grabbed her face, opened her mouth wide, and put her lips on her own. She struggled against this violating kiss, and she cried out, when she felt her breathe living her body. She tried to scream, but she couldn't, her lips were locked onto this woman's. She was sucking the life out of her. 

She thought of her sister and her mother one last time, knowing that she would never see them again. She shot a hateful look in the brother's direction. It was the last emotion she ever felt, and she was proud of it, because one day, these monsters would all die, for what they did to her. 

---

After it was done, the woman collapsed onto the barn floor. She was now an empty husk. The new vessel opened her eyes, her tongue flicking across her lips. She grimaced. 

"What have you been feeding this one?"

"Homemade blueberry muffins," the sister said. 

"They taste awful," she remarked. 

The brother burst out laughing as the sister helped to untie the woman. He wiped away tears, as the woman was testing out her new legs. She smiled at the sister, tracing a finger down her cheek. 

"Ohh, I like the feel of this one. She…has been through a lot in her past life. Good choice, you two."

The brother did a mock bow, and the woman placed her hands on his head, brushing her fingers through the strands. 

"You both are so good to me," she whispered. There was something sexual hiding in that tone. It was always directed at him, his master always found the strong men appealing. He waited until she let go of his hair, and he slowly stood up. She had a big smile on her face, her eyes locking on his lips. She put a finger on his lips, tracing his mouth. 

He opened his mouth, letting his master shove a finger inside, onto his tongue. The sister looked away, discomfort in her posture. He felt amusement at this, and couldn't hide his lips turning into a smile at the ends. The woman pulled her hand away, looking at the saliva on her one finger. 

"Yes. This is a good one."

She wiped her finger on her dirty dress, and stretched out her arms like a cat. She waved a hand, and the two siblings followed. They got in the brother's car, left the scene. 

When authorities would arrive, they would be shocked to find the body of a missing woman inside. Her name was Allison Winters. She had been missing for the past three months, she had been taken from a gas station by an unknown person. 

Her cause of death would remain a mystery, and this cycle would continue, until the demon who used her would find the right vessel.

---

Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn