Challenge of Antares

Chapter nineteen

Chapter nineteenI looked back.

The horror began.

That beautiful young maiden just burgeoning into womanhood began to bloat, to swell. The strings of multicolored beads snapped and cascaded in a rainbow flood to the bed. She stood up, and, just for a moment, appeared glorious in her nakedness. Then the bed collapsed, her legs bowed, hairs sprouted over her body. Her hands turned into talons. Razor-sharp claws sprouted from her feet. She emitted a gargling cry. Could I detect in those moments of horror the desperate lost cry of a bewildered girl?

She stepped off the shattered bed. Her hands lifted. The claws raked forward in instinctive movements of destruction.

Absolute determination to kill and go on killing turned her face into a virago’s, a demonic mask, the visage of a devil from he