The Lady in Red

"THE LADY IN RED"

BY: BRUCE ALAN BEASLEY


It was a typical Saturday night at the Holiday Inn. Travis had just arrived at eleven p.m., and he said goodnight to the previous shift as he checked the computer terminal for room data.

There were ten reservations left to come in and only eight rooms available to accommodate them. He chuckled to himself and thought, "I hope all of these don't show up or I am going to catch hell later".

Charlie's Lounge was jumping. The hotel lounge was just a short distance from the front desk and he admired all the lovely ladies that frequently walked by. He purposely did his work at the front desk so he could watch all those lovelies.

Suddenly he felt strange. He couldn't figure out why and walked back to the office and looked around. He couldn't find anything unusual so he decided to go check the lobby for any signs of trouble but it was normal as usual. A few guests were standing around or lounging on the lobby furniture in casual conversation. Why did he feel so strange? Something was wrong.

Travis was the type of guy who learned in time to get a feel for a place. He had been working at the Holiday Inn on the graveyard shift for two years now and he knew the hotel like his own home. He was also the type of person that never worried about things. He never worried bout being robbed or receiving bomb threats and the like. He had never felt like this before, however, and it was driving him nuts.

He shivered as he walked out into the front parking lot and looked around. Still, nothing unusual but a tingle rose up through his spine and the hairs on the back of his neck stiffened. He caught a glimpse of red light reflecting off the rear window of a parked car. Looking up into the night sky, at the full moon, he noticed how brightly it was illuminating the parking lot in an eerie red hue.

"Why was the moon so red tonight?" he thought. "How weird".

He felt the tingling sensation again and the touch of a hand on his right shoulder that made him jump and gasp in unison. He caught the scent of perfume like none he had ever smelled before as he spun around to face whoever touched him.

Standing before him was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. The perfume was intoxicating. He stood there stunned, beholding the beautiful lady in the cascading red moonlight. He studied her form. She had long, flowing red hair and her eyes were like blue crystals. Her luscious red lips gleamed with moisture. She had ivory smooth skin and the red dress she wore clung to her curvaceous figure.

Travis tried to speak but couldn't find the words. He tried to move but his legs were numb, yet stiff as boards. The lady in red stepped toward Travis and spoke in a voice like the singing of a nightingale.

"Hello! I am Lilith. Isn't it a lovely night? And aren't you such a handsome man?"

Travis considered himself an attractive young man and bit of player but this was too good to be true. He didn't know how he could be so lucky but he couldn't pass up this opportunity.

Lilith caressed Travis' right cheek and her eyes looked deeply into his and he breathed in the deeply intoxicating perfume. He was in ecstasy. Then, all of a sudden he felt a sharp pain in his groin. While her left hand caressed his cheek, her right hand was clamped on to his testicles and squeezing. He tried to scream but his lips were muffled as she pressed hers violently to his.

Travis felt the fingernails penetrate the fine layer of skin on his scrotum and felt the very manliness of his loins being sucked dry. He felt her tongue forcing itself into his mouth and slithering deep into his throat, through the bronchial tubes and into his lungs. He could feel the life being drained from his body.

Travis crumpled to the pavement and lay there in a ball shaking. He looked up at the lady in red startled to see the same red, flowing hair but framing the most hideously looking demonic face he had ever seen. The delightful scent of perfume was gone. It was replaced by the putrefying smell of long dead flesh.

Lilith licked the fingernails of her right hand one at a time with an evil grin. They gleamed in the red moonlight. They were long and hollow like syringes. She looked upon Travis with obvious amusement and her appearance changed back to its former beauty before his very eyes. He could only lie there in a ball. Like a fetus in the mother's womb, shaking convulsively.

The lady in red walked away toward the entrance to "Charlie's" and disappeared into the nightclub. The dance music blared through the stillness of the night and the young man lying on the pavement blacked out.

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When Travis woke up he was being strapped down on a gurney. Two men in white uniforms loaded him into the back of a van. He looked around and spoke feebly.

"This isn't an ambulance. You're not paramedics. Where are you taking me?"

One of the men spoke in a soothing, reassuring, yet patronizing voice.

"Now just relax Mr. Douglas. We'll be at the institute in just a few short minutes and the doctors will make you feel much better."

"Institute? What institute?" Travis screamed.

Travis struggled to free himself from the straps on the gurney. He screamed at the top of his lungs. "Let me out of here you assholes!"

The man in white reached into a black bag and removed a syringe. He inserted the needle into a vial of clear liquid, and then pulled back on the syringe filling it about halfway with the drug.

"This is just a mild sedative to help you relax," said the man in white. "Now just calm down and relax Mr. Douglas. It will all be over soon."

Travis felt the needle penetrate his skin. He went limp and his head began to spin. His body grew numb and darkness enshrouded him into sweet oblivion.

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The doctor walked into the padded room flipping through a chart. The patient sat cross-legged with his back to the padded wall. He rocked back and forth slamming his back into the padding while he hummed an eerie melody. A straight jacket was wrapped around him tightly.

"How are you feeling today Travis?" asked the doctor, as he made notations on the flipchart.

Travis stopped humming and looked up at the doctor with a broad smile on his face. "She took my manhood you know. She sucked it dry. And she sucked my blood from the inside with her tongue. Watch out for her when the moon is red and don't smell her perfume. It will paralyze you."

"Yes, yes, I’ll be sure to do that Travis," spoke the doctor patronizingly.

The doctor walked out of the padded room and closed the door behind him leaving Travis to resume his rocking back and forth, slamming his back into the padded wall. He began humming eerily again. It was the song "Lady in Red".

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Several miles across town a middle-aged man, Joseph Baker, prepares to close his liquor store. Suddenly he feels a shiver up and down his spine. How strange. He looks around the store but nothing is wrong. He locks up the store and walks through the parking lot to his car.

He looks around the parking lot still feeling like something is wrong. The night was bright with a full moon. He looked up at the moon and realized it had a strange red glow.

"How weird that is," he thought.

He caught the scent of perfume in the slight breeze. It was the most pleasant perfume he had ever smelled. He breathed in deeply and savored the ecstatic aroma. His eyes closed and rolled up into the back of his head.

His eyes popped back open when he felt the pain. The excruciating pain in his groin. And standing in front of him was the most beautiful red haired lady he had ever seen in his life. Although he was feeling great pain he felt such a longing for this beautiful woman that nothing else mattered. He kissed her and she pressed her lips tightly to his then quickly, violently forced her tongue down deep into his throat.

A few moments later he crumpled to the ground and lay motionless. All the life drained completely from him. The lady in red laughed as she walked away.

"M-m-m, that was delicious."


THE END
MAYBE?