Read Online Maleficarum: Hunger of the Witch by Jeremy Bennett - Free Book Online Page A

were forming in her eyes. She was trying to hold back, but their coming was inevitable.
    “I got bit by one of them, ” she whimpered as she slid her fingers under her shirt to feel that the bite on her shoulder was still not clotted. “I got bitten, and now I’m going to have one of those things inside me. They gave me whatever sickness he had, and I’m going to have one of those things inside me.” The tears finally burst from her eyes like a levee under too much pressure.
    Ann grabbed her by the back of the neck and cradled her head. “No, you’re not, love. You’re my friend, and I won’t let it happen. I love you so much, and I won’t let it happen even if I have to go and kill them all myself.”
    Nick eased over to Beverly and coaxed her out of Ann’s arms. He yanked her shirt back to take a look at the angry wound. It was deep into her shoulder, and the pink flesh around it was starting to turn a putrid gray. The wound wept a thick black fluid that smelled of rot, and it was refusing to even mildly scab over. Red streaks were starting to race up her neck. The infection was running wild in her veins.
    Satanic witches were a corruption of the mind, the soul, and the body, and it was now clear to everyone that the witches would stop at nothing to spread it to those who had any goodness or purity in them. Ann watched Nick run to the trash can and pull out some of the fast-food wrappers that they had tossed earlier. He flew around the room, gathering anything that was known to stop corruption either physically or symbolically. He came to her and pulled some of the unused salt packets out of the fast-food bags. He mixed the salt with honey and Saint John’s Wort, and he slathered the concoction all over her wound.
    “This will work ,” he said. Ann could tell just by the tremble in his voice he was lying. He handed Beverly an assortment of silver charms and necklaces that the store sold and instructed her to put them on. “Bind her wounds,” Nick barked as he ran into aisles, gazing at the books.
    “W hat are we doing now?” Kim asked, poking her head out of her hiding place behind the counter.
    “I ’m going on the offensive,” he said, lighting up one of the many scented candles that were all about the store. He frantically began rifling through the books, trying to find anything useful. “I know the store well, and I study its contents when I can. So I have a good idea on where I can find the information we need,” Nick roared.
    Ann watched Beverly slide her back down a bookshelf, taking a seat. Ann scooted in next to her and tossed an arm around her. She pulled Beverly in close. Ann could feel her heart racing.
    “You know , when I was like fourteen, I was out in the field beside my house,” Beverly confided, snuggling into Ann. “I was out there painting a picture of the old shed, and I had my easel and my paint and my brushes all set up. I remember I was almost finished when I saw this lovely little monarch butterfly come floating in. I don’t know why, but it landed right in my red paint, and it just got stuck. It was flapping its wings as hard as it could, but it was just getting sucked in deeper. I wanted to save the little guy, so I reached down and tried to help him out. He was flapping so hard that I couldn’t really grab him, but every moment that passed, he was just digging himself in deeper. So I did the only thing I could. I reached in. It…It smashed him even deeper into the paint, and every time I tried to pull him out, I would just end up pushing him further down. By the end, he was just this little broken thing that had only one wing left and even less life. I just cried as I realized all hope was lost, so I smashed him. I knew then that there was no God. What kind of thing would allow someone’s best intentions to become murder?” Beverly looked at Ann and her brother with tears rolling down her blood-covered cheeks. “These things are from the devil, aren’t