Dark Puppeteer
an excerpt

As the sun set, dark mist crept down the street. The girl shivered and pulled her small, thin jacket closer around her pale, petite body and quickened her step. A strong feeling of dread washed over her and she began to panic. Something followed her. She glanced ahead and saw that her house stood, tall and welcoming down at the corner.

Suddenly, something scraped against the sidewalks behind her, and she yelped, sprinting down the street toward her house. Over the rush of the air past her face, she could hear faint footsteps following behind her, not quite keeping pace with her, but still following close behind. They sped up, whatever fearful creature they belonged to moving in for the kill. The girl stopped running slowly, feeling the inevitable, foreboding presence expand behind her.

Abruptly, she turned around and gazed up into the face of a tall, pale man. He had to glance down at her in order to look into her eyes, which made the girl feel inferior and afraid. But she was not afraid. A strange look of defiance entered the girl’s cold, empty eyes, and her countenance changed. Darkness quickly gathered, swirling about them and blowing the most outward in an eerie spiral. Then everything stopped.

The silence was absolute. Nothing could be heard. Not even the girl’s heartbeat, realized the now fearful man. It had somehow stopped. His eyes were stuck to the girl’s and he could not look away. Then, she spoke and her high, chilling voice rand out through the silence. “Jack Scarlet, your time has come.” Then, she dissipated into the air, turning to dust in the wind and melting into the darkness.

Suddenly, the darkness gathered closer, took shape, and solidified into a menacing figure. His long, black hair hung down over his face and his right arm slowly rose, finally coming to a stop level with the man’s chest. The hair parted to reveal a horrifying red eye. A chilling whisper floated through the air, seemingly coming from nowhere, and everywhere. “You have been summoned by the Dark Puppeteer.”