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Category:
Horror
Publisher: Burning Books
ISBN-10: 1980241481
Type: Fiction
Pages: 252
Copyright: May 13, 2016
ISBN-13: 9781980241485
Price: $0.99 (eBook)
A decadent tale of sex, drugs, rock n roll & magick.
"There's dark, and there's twisted. Then there's Burning Roses... Sex magick rituals in nightclubs. Ancient demons in the mosh pit. Dozens of easter eggs, hilarious references to song lyrics and dead musicians, that had me snorting coffee out my nose. If this is how people lived in the 80s, I'm surprised anyone survived. But I'm glad they did. And that they came back to tell us how."
♠
John doesn’t give a f.©k. About anything except drinking, playing pool and headbanging to his favourite bands in Johannesburg’s metal clubs. Until a private investigator hires him to find a missing girl, and he stumbles into a twisted conspiracy of magickal forces battling to decide the fate of the human race. Who is the horned demon following him from one bar to the next? Why are shadowy cult members stalking his every move? Can he find the girl before they do? Has he fallen under her spell? Does she have her own twisted agenda? Can he hang onto his sanity? Even his life? Will any of this cut into his drinking time?
♠
Combining music, magick, mayhem & murder, this work of fiction is set against the real rock n roll underworld of 1980s Hillbrow, the heavy metal heart of Johannesburg. A humble tribute to the lost generation, to those of us who survived, and to the fallen heroes who live on in our hearts.
Excerpt
Chanting. Darkness. Cloaked figures surrounding us, coming closer.
Morag on top of me, her shoulder length hair bobbing back and forth, my hands moving along her thighs, across her hips, around her waist. Her green eyes glowing in the semi-darkness. She smiles.
A burst of flame. The world turns red. I taste iron, mixed with copper. Salty. Sweet.
Morag’s hair grows longer, reaching to her waist. Her fingers entwine with mine, leaning forward, nails digging into the back of my hands, holding me down while she writhes on top of me. I look for the spider tattoo, but it has disappeared, replaced by a ring of burning roses. Burning… burning…
Like the candles that form a circle around us, flames leaping and dancing to throw chaotic shadows on the walls. There a face, flickering as it leers towards us, licking its lips while horns rise from its forehead. There a horde of misshapen nightmares, infinitely far away but shooting towards us at speeds that make a mockery of modern physics. I watch them approach, knowing that it’s wrong, they shouldn’t be there, can’t be there. I try to tell her, warn her, but something soft and warm presses itself against my mouth.
Another burst of flame. Screams. Chanting. Bestial roars.
Morag’s familiar butterfly tattoo, stretching across the upper portion of her back, sweating and bunching as her arms strain to push back against me. I look down at it, watching drops of sweat gather together before running up over her collarbone. Then I see it shimmer, melt, transform into a green dragon that chases the butterfly up over her shoulder. The dragon howls, in anger, in pain, in ecstasy.
Fire. Burning me. Burning her. Burning everything. The air. The earth. The blood in our veins.
Blood pounding, pounding, primal thunder numbing the civilized part of the brain, thrashing to the beat of an older consciousness, darker, stronger. Snarling, growling, clawing its way through generations of soft civilization, ripping through the fleshy chains of modern society, thrusting its bloody snout once more through the membrane between the worlds, tasting the heady ambrosia of life.
Blood. Pain. Frustration. Longing.
Nails scratch across naked skin. Teeth bite down. The taste of sweat. Cinnamon and honey. Panting. Hoarse, raw, growing louder, more intense. Starting to form words, struggling, losing focus.
Green eyes burning through to my soul. Chanting. Shouting. Screaming.
I’m on my knees, watching the dance of the dragon. It swoops. It leaps. It flexes its wings. It turns its face towards me. It smiles. A knowing smile, full of ancient cunning. The mouth opens, shadows capering within. The shadows scream in ecstasy. They roar in triumph. Flame arcs across the sky, obliterating everything in its path. I dissolve into nothingness, in an explosion that consumes the entire universe.
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