Val stood in a puddle of blood. The concrete would stain. By morning the police would be trying, in vain, to find the culprit. Dark eyes sent chills down Ebony's spine. She hadn't seen Val for nearly three years, they all thought he had perished. The feeling of his return was both thrilling and terrifying.

Val lifted his fingers to his lips and licked stray drops of blood off the tips. He looked at Ebony, his gaze as hard as stone. "Tell the wolves I'm home."

She knew better than to move while he stared at her that way. Every heartbeat pounded through her body, but she didn't take a step to leave the darkened alley.

There was so much more blood than she had expected. How much could one body hold? Gobs of gore fell with splats to the ground off the brick walls, sprays of it painted the same walls. Her face itched where a fine mist of the stuff was drying from when Rollin had split down the middle and then turned himself inside out. On the concrete, the blood spread, flowing thick and smooth to pool at her feet.

I am the newly crowned Queen of Fools if I believe this will lead anywhere but to my own painful end. To the death of me. It would come for her under the moonlight and certainly at Val's hands. He had an artist's hands. They were slender and pale white, fingers deft enough to pluck a crow's eye from its socket before the bird could even notice his presence.

There was a word for him. Val had such grace in movement, beauty in the lines of his body and a bright gleam in his eyes. One word defined him, but it was not the word most people would think if they saw him.

Many fools believed they could control him with their rituals and spells, their charms and chalices, their blood and bone. Some of that blood and bone was exposed for all the world to see right in the alley.

She knew better than to think she could control him, but was fool enough that despite her knowledge, she yearned endlessly for that which would destroy her. The council had met and decided his fate three years ago.

She should know. Ebony had cast the spell to banish him and his kind. Demon.

*** Three Years Ago

"You will regret this," Val told her. "I will return and I will break you in two, then grind you to a pulp beneath my boot."

"And get them smeared with blood?" she asked. "How do you clean them, anyway?" Ebony set the last candle. Voices from the shadows rose – an incantation. The ceremony was underway. Ebony's shaking hand betrayed her doubt; this was a risky game and she stood to lose more than most here. Her life could be snuffed out as easily as theirs, but Val would keep her alive for a long time if he could, and then he would keep her soul much, much longer.

The trap had been simple and Val had stepped into it, literally with his usual self-pretension confidence. Nothing in this world could harm him, especially not the witches he had trained and the spells he had given them to bring him here.

But spells could be reversed, and witches' loyalty bought and paid for in power.

A slight accent betrayed several of the speakers. They had been so careful to conceal their scent around the building, and to hide their faces when they came in the room so Val would think human converts and adorers were lined up as usual. No one had considered the way they spoke might give them away.

Even fully transformed in their human skin, the wolf leaders retained a huskiness not found in human voices and the guttural 'r's of their Northern tribes rang out.

Ebony had been against the alliance, but the witches found themselves quite friendless in the threat of the demon spread. They had no other recourse. Now that Val knew who was standing against him, it was too late to do anything about it.

"You sold yourselves to them? These dogs?" he asked. He spoke to all witches present, but kept his dark eyes on Ebony.

A huge man lunged forward and Ebony only caught him at the last second before he scuffed her marks on the floor. Her hand raised, she let the little energy she could spare hold him in place.

"If you break through, he goes free!" she shouted at the man-shaped wolf.

"I'll rip him limb from limb with my hands and teeth!" he shouted. Sizzles and pops died at the transparent force rising up from her drawings. She briefly registered that not even spit could make it through her pentagrams unharmed before Val was baiting the man-wolf again.

Val yipped like a whipped puppy. "Come in and get a bite!"

Ebony had no doubt that the mass of muscle, sinew and fury next to her thought he could best the prince of demons in hand to hand combat. For her part, she was glad the demon paced restlessly inside the complex drawings of concentric circles and pentagram she had carefully placed on the stone floor. Barely there, the lines seemed invisible except from certain angles when the slanted candle light hit them just so.

It was the same with the gleam in Val's midnight eyes. If you spoke to him from straight on, he would appear perfectly normal; an attractive human, nothing more.

Catch him from the side, though, and you'd get a glimpse of the demon he truly was. Always watching without seeming to, he would wait until you were off guard. The same second you thought he was tame or held you in some regard for your skills and position, he would already have plucked your eye from its warm, wet home.

"Go back to your chanting, Rollin," Ebony said. They would need all those voices they had to contain this pestilence.

Where once, witches opened the gates of hell to learn from the demons in their quest for power, now they would slam the doors shut for good and have more power without those demons running around as unbridled killers. Demons had developed quite a thirst for terrestrial life, and her peers had run out of patience with their bloodlust.

"Ebony, my jewel, my sweet, you will regret this," Val whispered.

Electric tingles danced on her skin. She was falling out of herself towards him. The call of the spirit, the wild abandon to a power greater than she could even imagine. He knew every button to push, every string to pull and every crack in her resistance to exploit. She loved the feeling of power rushing in and the sensation of dropping, weightless in the void.

The short distance between her and Val was practically nonexistent and the barriers could come crashing down at a flick of her fingers.

"Ebony," he called to her.

"Ebony!" shouted Rollin with a snarl. "Banish him and his kind or I'll rip your arms off."

The cacophony of chanting witches and wolves held Ebony steady and she focused her attention to the task at hand. It was her duty. There wouldn't be room for any other creatures who roamed the darkness if demons had their way. They would spread like a plague and when they had established total dominion, they would delight in their reign of death and terror.

Flickering candle light made the lines on the floor flash and then fade out of sight. Too much flickering.

"The flames!" Ebony yelled.

Witches surged from the shadows to place protective hands around the candles.

Val's host of minions had arrived.

Words came to Ebony's mouth, driven by fear and she shouted them out. The ecstasy of power hummed in her veins, sparking electric on her skin and she saw her fear move to Val.

"You will regret this. I will break you," he shouted. His pale skin shone gold in the cirlcle of candles and drops of sweat beaded on his forehead.

Shadows began spinning at his feet. Shrieks from outside the room pierced through the chanting, but Ebony held the barriers strong. One more heartbeat. They were coming. They wanted blood to drink, meat to feast on and bone to gnaw. The lesser demons enjoyed plucking eyes from sockets, too, but slowly – so as you'd notice.

The gates to Hell split wide in the stones, wider than the room, wider than the sea and as far reaching as evil itself. Val was swallowed whole.

A swarm of demons arrived cutting and tearing among the spell casters. The chanting continued louder than before.

Ebony dropped the barriers and Hell did the rest. It breathed in its denizens who vanished into the gaping maw with final cries of hatred. They would certainly take their revenge on Val for letting them be tricked.

Ebony raised the barriers while the others used their power to close the gates and seal the way to the human realm. Val was gone, but she kept his final words in the black cage of her heart. She would regret this. He would break her in two.

The dancing on her skin slowed and stopped. She felt lesser without it.

***Two Days Ago

It had been three years of drudgery and frustration since the demons were banished. Three years since she had felt the pure flames of magic move through her as it had the night of the spell. Not a day passed when she didn't think of it.

Ironically, Val had spoken the truth. In many ways, she regretted the council's decision. The demon spread had been a pestilence, but closing the gates had cut off more than the witches had imagined. Her regret was bitter and stung like raw thistles in her mouth that they had taken sides with the wolves. They were the undisputed masters of the night crawling creatures now.

She despised her cold and empty bed.

"Close your eyes and draw up an image of the loved one you wish to speak with," Ebony sad. The depths she stooped to – summoning ghosts for clients in a carnival side show. She took the hands of the woman sitting across the table.

The council had not delayed in throwing her out. They deemed Ebony too uncooperative in the new hierarchy. The wolves were their friends in this golden age of darkness. Witches and wolves went hand in hand, especially considering their ancient enemies the vamps were all but extinct and other night crawlers weaker than themselves.

But the power that had flowed through the undercurrents of the human realm had grown stagnant and putrid like a slime covered pond under the summer sun. When Ebony pointed this out and refused to continue an alliance with the wolves, the council charged her with sedition. She was forced out in disgrace.

They had forgotten she had led them to glory and victory not long ago.

Regrets were her only companions these days. And memories.

"I sense an older man, standing at your shoulder," Ebony said to her frizzy haired client. Yellow tobacco stained fingers shifted as the woman glanced around.

Ebony maintained her professional poise and didn't sigh. She had to keep up her pretenses – they paid the bills.

Once upon a time, she could have summoned a legion of dead soldiers to reenact Civil War battles for her amusement if she wanted. Today? Nothing. Not a whiff of the dead, no matter how she strained and longed for that skittering touch on her arms. Sensing them was like a breath of fresh air in her closed and overheated prison, but the spirits were far and few between.

"Well, I can't imagine who you see, cause I'm trying to contact my mom," the client said.

"I will keep searching for her. However, this man seems to want to tell you something. Could he be your father?" Ebony asked.

"Is he bald on top with a pony tail and a mole on his cheek?"

"He is indistinct, but I sense he might."

"That's my first husband," the client said.

"That explains his presence," Ebony said. "He has come to say he hopes you are happy."

"Oh, I guess I could be better. Has my mom showed up yet?"

"What does she look like? I'm having a hard time finding her," Ebony said.

"I've never seen her."

"You've never....When did she die?"

The woman wiggled in her folding chair, uncomfortable. The rowdy laughter and shouting that permeates carnival life filtered through the canvas tent. "Actually, I'm not sure she's dead. I was hoping she was dead so you could ask her about her medical history. Doctors ask me about that all the time."

This time a sigh escaped Ebony's lips. Once upon a time she had harnessed pygmy demons to a sleigh of frost and murderess's hair to carry her across the night sky. Val had sat, laughing at her side.

Rollin had taken her place in the council when she'd been ousted. His wolf had been showing through his human form. A wolf in human skin clothing. Her covenant brothers and sisters were blind idiots. Bite by bite, witch territory was being devoured and they did nothing to stop the encroaching danger.

Val's voice whispering, "You will regret this. Ebony, my jewel, my sweet....." played havoc in her head.

Anger brought a crackling power with it, lifting the tiny hairs on her arm and nape. The woman sat up straighter in surprise.

A man pushed his way into the tent without permission. His large frame knocked over an extra chair and took up too much space.

"Wait your turn outside," Ebony snapped. "We're in the middle of a séance."

"Message, witch," the man said in a too-deep voice.

Ebony sniffed. Her incense had hidden his smell. "Say it."

"Rollin would meet with you. The alph – our boss summons you in two nights time at his city headquarters."

"He summons me to the other side of the continent two nights from now?" Ebony asked, furious. Blue sparks flashed between her and her client's hands.

"Is travelling that far a problem for you?" He kicked the table as he strode from the tent.

Ebony closed her eyes for a moment and could finally see beyond the physical world. Although she didn't see any ghosts, she did see someone who was dead. Unfortunately, it wasn't Rollin or his smelly messenger, either.

Sliding a $20 bill across the table, Ebony said, "A full refund for the interruption. We have to cut short the séance." Knowing her mother's medical history wouldn't help. "By the way, you have three months to live."

***The Evening of the Meeting

Ebony waited until dusk to enter the city. From a bus terminal near the center, she set out on foot, attracting stares and catcalls at every corner. Her ritual tattoos and near translucent clothing gave human men the wrong message. Normally, she preferred to move about unnoticed, but she wouldn't give Rollin that satisfaction.

He would remember who she was and what she was capable of doing. Anger had sustained her powers for two days and every step she took was actually two: this world and the next.

She burned to bring pain and misery down on any who stood in her way. She should be a queen among mortals and night crawlers.

"Tell your master I've arrived," she said to the guard at the door to Rollin's headquarters.

He twisted his mouth up, running his tongue over his teeth with his lips shut while her eyes scraped over her body. Letting several seconds of this go by, he made her wait for his reply.

"He's busy. You can stand here until he's done."

"The sun has set on the night of our meeting. I am here. If he refuses to see me, then I will go."

"You'll wait, witch-bitch," he said.

Ebony left. By foot – a trail of whistles and vile promises following her through the streets – she headed towards the local witch covenant house. She needed supplies, more than she had brought, but had few hopes of finding any witches willing to fight with her.

She reached the corner of the three story, brick building and saw the stars and moon insignia at the same time she heard the scratch of nails on pavement.

They were already there. She broke into a run, not wanting to be caught in the open. Fully formed weirding wolves howled and broke from the shadows to give chase.

The resident covenant would have no choice but to fight, she thought grimly. Hitting the door with a spell, it opened for her and she dove inside the house.

She erected a barrier as best she could and turned.

The house was decrepit and empty. No supplies. No witches.

There was always an escape route. She ran through towards the back, sending out tendrils of consciousness. To her left and down the stairs. Behind the ruined shelves. She found a tunnel door. All she could now was hope the wolves didn't know about it and didn't sniff her out too quickly.

At the end of the lengthy tunnel, there was another door and then a stretch of sewer. Finally, a ladder showed her to the street above. She shoved the manhole cover aside and crawled out.

Rollin's fist closed on her throat.

"Shouldn't have run off. It only made me want to hurt you more," he said.

Val had been right. She regretted her decision. Flames burst to life on her hands and she grabbed Rollin's furry face, burning it. He yelled in pain, but began crushing her windpipe.

There was no escape for her anymore. Only revenge. She took her sacrificial knife from her waist and sliced into him. He let go for a second.

Then, flicking her wrist, she cut several strands of her own hair. They lit into miniscule fires in her fingers and she tossed them up, calling the wind to line them in the points of a pentagram.

Weirding wolves took her arms from behind and Rollin backhanded her.

She spit the blood in her mouth on the ground. It formed her lines. She said the words as Rollin gutted her with his claws.

The gates of hell opened, but she wasn't prepared for what erupted from its molten heat. Not the minion demons she had summoned, nor the legions of screaming fury demons she was accustomed to.

Simply Val. In all his beauty and terrifying strength.

He reached out one hand and Rollin's skin began to bubble and expand. The wolf screamed in agony for a full minute as he grew in size and bones snapped. He split down the middle and exploded, cutting his scream off suddenly. The wolves ran.

Val stepped closer to Ebony and she felt her body healing. She wasn't naïve, though. This was only to save her for later.

"You were right about the regrets," she whispered. "And now you'll break me in two."

"I already broke you. Now I will grind you to a pulp."

She nodded. It was inevitable now that he had returned.

Val stood in a puddle of blood. The concrete would stain. By morning the police would be trying, in vain, to find the culprit. Dark eyes sent chills down Ebony's spine. She hadn't seen Val for nearly three years, they all thought he had perished. The feeling of his return was both thrilling and terrifying.

Val lifted his fingers to his lips and licked stray drops of blood off the tips. He looked at Ebony, his gaze as hard as stone. "Tell the wolves I'm home."

She didn't move, she couldn't. A minute or more passed, her heart pounding.

"Ebony, after I grind you to a pulp, I will remake you as my queen. Remember this always. You belong to me, I am your master and creator. Go now, beloved. Tell the wolves I'm home."

She still didn't leave. The crush of his arms and the burning kisses on her lips and neck kept her prisoner for more heartbeats than she counted. No more regrets.

*** The end! Entry for round two of the Glamour of the Grotesque contest! I hope you enjoyed it. The given prompt is in bold at the beginning of the text. ***