The Woman Who Came from Smoke Part 7

Azrael’s Circus of the Bizarre

The Woman Who Came from Smoke

Draft 3

By: Chase L. Currie

Suddenly, a black and red Chevrolet Superior pulled up from out of nowhere, and Daisy throw opens the door. “Get in,” she yelled, and Charon fell into the car. Lucille waited for Stanley to get into the car before she jumped in as well.

“How bad are you hurt?” Lucille asked with Daisy driving away.

“You know a doctor, Daisy?” Charon asked looking down at the pool of blood on his hand.

“I do,” Daisy answered, “He is a healer.”

“What the hell were you guys thinking?” Daisy asked, slowing her car down a little.

“I had to know what kind of man we were facing,” Charon said, smiling at Lucille, “And I now know.”

Daisy keeps looking behind her to make sure there were no cars following them. She seems more worried about herself then Charon and Lucille. “He’s an asshole,” Daisy told Charon. “Anyone could tell you that.”

“Right,” Charon grunted a little, “but I had to know firsthand.”

Daisy helped Charon into the back of the small butcher shop and laid him on the table. Lucille stood there looking around at all the knives and meat hanging from the walls. The blood-soaked floors was not a good sign to her. She whispered into Charon’s ear, “I don’t like this place.”

“We’ll be fine, clown,” Charon said holding her hand for a moment. “We have to trust her, she did save us after all.”

“But doesn’t Frank know where we are then?” Lucille asked. “He can see through her eyes, right?”

“Let’s just hope he is still in too much pain to do that,” Charon said letting go of Lucille's hand and sitting his head back a little.

Lucille waited nervously for Daisy to come back but she never did. Instead, a fat man with a dark black beard came through the door. He was the butcher of the shop, wearing a white coat covered in blood.

Lucille back up the moment she saw the large knife in his hand. Charon saw it too and set up slowly. “Where is Daisy?” He asked.

“She went back to the club,” the butcher said. He walked over to Charon, putting the knife down and seeing the blade in his side. “I’m the healer.”

Charon lay back down and asked, “Do you have a name?”

“Just call me the Butcher,” he said, lightly touching the handle of the knife and sending Charon into a grunt of pain.

Lucille lifted Stanley to her face and told him, “Keep an eye out for us.”

Stanley blinked back at her, dropped to the ground and was let out the back door by her.

“This is going to hurt,” the Butcher said pulling the knife out hard. Charon tries not to let out a scream but couldn’t help himself. The butcher tossed the knife on to the table and shoved some cloth into the wound to stop the blood. “I’ll be right back,” he said walking out of the room.

“Fuck that hurt,” Charon said out loud.

“Anything I can get for you?” Lucille asked, but Charon didn’t have time to say anything. The Butcher came back into the room holding some bottles with odd-looking liquid in them. The butcher poured some of the liquid onto this hands, pulled out the cloth soaked in blood and then stuck his finger into the hole. Charon moved uncomfortably as the Butcher dug deeper into him.

“Stop moving,” the Butcher order.

“Kind of fucking hard,” Charon replied with his jaw locked and garb the side of the table.

“Well, stop,” the Butcher told him, digging deeper into his skin. The man’s hands started to glow a little as he started to close the wound from the inside. It took roughly an hour for the man to close the wound and heal Charon. Somewhere during all of it, Charon passed out from the pain.

When the Butcher was done, he cleaned off his hands, took his bottles and when back through the door. Lucille sat beside Charon not sure what to do other than to make sure he was alive. His chest was still rising and falling, and his heart seems to still be beating.

The Butcher came back in handing Lucille a folded-up piece of paper and said, “When he wakes up you two get out.”

“Yes sir,” she quietly said and open the paper. It was a letter from Daisy and started out like this … If you are still alive …

Lucille read the hold thing then folded it back up and placed it on the table. She heard the scratching at the door. She opens the door, and the cat slowly walked in with snow on its back. She pets the snow off the cat, and he looked back at her telling her he didn’t see anything.

Lucille grin feeling a little bit safe. Stanley jumps up on the table and found his place on top of Charon's chest. Stanley fell right to sleep, and Lucille found her place right beside Charon and waited. Every now and then the Butcher would come back in to check on them, shake his head and then right back out.

 “Did someone hit me in the face with a hammer?” Charon asked pushing Stanley off his chest and sitting up.

Lucille jumps down from the table across the room where she ended up sitting, “Nope used magic.”

“Powerful magic feels like,” Charon said touching his side.

“And there is this,” Lucille said handing him the letter. “It is from Daisy. She still wants us to leave, but she also gives us a time and places Frank might be.”

Charon quickly read it and smiled. “Now we can repay the asshole.”

“Can we go home?”

“She wants our help, clown,” Charon told her sitting all the way up. “We have to help her.”

“I don’t like her,” Lucille said crossing her arms.

“I know.”

“And I don’t trust her, something just rubs me the wrong way,” Lucille said.

“What rubs you the wrong about her?” Charon stood up.

“How did she get mixed with Frank,” Lucille question.

Charon thought for a moment and shrugged. “I don’t know nor care.”

 “Then maybe we should find out.”

                “Fine,” Charon said not happy at all. “We’ll find out what we can about her.”

                The Butcher come into the room seeing Charon up and awake. “Time to leave,” he said.

                “Right, right,” Charon said walking up to him. “Can I ask you some question?”

                “What?”

                “Just something about our mutual friend, Daisy,” Charon grin. “I’ll buy you a beer.”

                The Butcher thought for a moment, but it was close to closing time anyway. He agrees, closed up and showed them to a little bar hidden a couple of blocks away from them. The club was empty which was great for the three of them. They sat at the far end of the room where the Butcher could put his back to the wall.