Unlocking the Darkness

By MT Hart

Come read 8 FANTASTIC short stories IN ONE BOOK!

Where in the world can you find your next anthology by 8 different authors?

One Key

Eight Authors

Eight delightfully different stories!

#horror #fantasy

• Language: English
• Publisher: MT Hart
• Release date: Mar 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215050859

MT Hart

An Awakening A Game A Ghost A Secret A Wandering Wish Two Anthologies Books by MT Hart MT Hart PresentsThe Mortal Series (3 books in 1) The Formal Casino Agua Caliente Immortal Secret The Wandering Wish Anthologies: Tales of the Sanguine Elixir Unlocking the Darkness  

Book preview

The skeleton key of dark desires

Christine baker

The Skeleton Key of Dark Desires

The things in life that come easy to us are often taken for granted, while the things we desire more than anything, may be the hardest to obtain, and yet, if you’re fortunate to obtain that which you desire most, it can be life changing, so much so, you may no longer be as you once were ever again.

The Reality, The Dream, The Nightmare

Athena Draco’s dress was a one of a kind, created by an up-and-coming designer from Milan. Her beautifully long black- flowing hair was styled half up half down, adorned with pearls and diamonds pinned around the crown of her head. Her beautifully sun- kissed skin was flawless, her peach blush accented her skin perfectly, her neutral shimmering eyeshadow and black eyeliner in a cat eye shape brought out the color of her striking sapphire blue eyes. With her three-inch diamond encrusted heels, she stood about five feet eleven inches tall, she would definitely not have to worry about standing out well next to her soon- to- be husband, Georgio who’s six feet two inches tall.

Her bridesmaids were dressed in beautiful medium blue silk form- fitting gowns, paired with violet blue hydrangea bouquets. Patiently awaiting the lovely bride to walk down the altar. It was an outdoor wedding, with a beautiful ocean view at Fanari Villas, in Santorini, Greece. Athena arrived at the location in a Dawn Silver Bullet Rolls Royce, her brother, Nikolaos, was the driver. He would also be the one walking her down the aisle in place of their father who was battling cancer, and too weak to make the trip.

Nikolaos pulled up to the Villa, and quickly escorted Athena out of the car and up the steps to the venue where everyone was waiting for the bride. Nicolas Nikolaos took her arm, interlocking it with his, and he began walking her down the aisle. Athena was all smiles, and happy to see her beautiful bridesmaids had arrived on time. Her fiancés groomsmen were all there on the opposite side too. They were all smiles, as they watched Athena walk down the aisle. Suddenly Athena felt a rush of panic, she quickly realized her fiancé was not there awaiting her at the end of the isle. The groomsmen noticed her panic and each seemed to have a worrisome look on their faces. Then they all quickly turned away from looking directly at her. She had a feeling they knew where he was, they were all his loyal friends. She started to doubt they would say what was going on. She started to feel as though she would break down and cry. She looked over at her bridesmaids, just as she got to the end of the isle. Her brother released her arm. Immediately seeing the panicked look on Athena’s face, her bridesmaids quickly walked over to her, asking in whispered voices what was wrong. She asked them if they had seen Georgio. They all shook their heads no, and told her they hadn’t seen him since the rehearsal dinner the previous night.

Athena remembered that was the last time she saw Georgio too. After the rehearsal dinner, he had walked her to her hotel room that night. The last thing he had said to her was that he couldn’t wait to marry her and kissed her goodnight. Remembering this made her tear up and panic even more. She knew she had to go look for him and find out what was going on.

She asked Nikolaos to speak to the guests for her, and let them know the wedding would be delayed shortly, and to please wait a little while longer. She then asked her bridesmaids to stay there while she took the Rolls back to the hotel to search for Georgio. Just as she was heading down the steps of the Villa, she heard a woman and a familiar man’s voice talking loudly near one of the columns. They didn’t notice her in the distance, so she quickly took off her heels, and snuck up behind them on the other side of the column where they were. She wanted to get a better look, and to clearly hear what was being said. She immediately noticed the woman was her fiancés’ ex, Lexi, and it was Georgio who was talking with her. Athena did her best not to make her presence known, even though she had the overwhelming urge to scream at them. She forced herself to remain calm, so she could hear what was going on, and figure out why his ex would show up in Greece of all places. Especially knowing that this was Georgio and Athena’s wedding day.

What she heard shook her to her core. Apparently, Georgio had still been seeing Lexi behind Athena’s back for the past two years, and she came all the way to Greece to talk him out of getting married. Lexi told Georgio she recently found out she’s three months pregnant. Georgio didn’t seem to doubt a word Lexi said, and instead of being mad about it, which Athena had silently hoped, he smiled and embraced Lexi in a tight hug. Then kissed her deeply. Athena felt like all the blood in her body had been drained. She became lightheaded, and thought she would pass out. Then she heard Georgio tell Lexi that she was the only one he’s ever loved, and was only using Athena for financial gain because her and her family were successfully wealthy. He told Lexi that if he married Athena, he would be guaranteed a high position in her company, and then he would be able to support Lexi and now their new baby, in the lap of luxury.

When Georgio said this, it made Lexi very happy. She agreed that this would be the best idea for them to be happy and financially secure. Georgio was about to walk up towards the venue when he realized Athena was right there, and had no doubt heard everything. Athena looked at Georgio with tears welled up in her eyes and no longer felt faint, but anger. She balled up her fists at her sides, and screamed at the top of her lungs, Georgio you bastard, how could you! Hearing the commotion, Athena’s brother ran down the aisle and down the steps to find Athena. When he got to her, she was still yelling profanities at Georgio and then she suddenly slapped him hard across his face. Lexi tried to defend Georgio. She grabbed Athena’s wrists and tried to slap her, but to her surprise Nikolaos stopped her. He grabbed Lexi’s wrist and said, Don’t even think about laying a hand on my sister, you bitch, or it will be the last thing you do! This startled Lexi, and fearing he may do something that could possibly hurt her baby, she immediately wrapped her arms around Georgio, and pleaded with him to leave with her.

Realizing there would be no marriage to Athena now, he nodded to Lexi, and they headed towards his rental car, and drove off. Soon as they left, Athena broke down, falling to her knees, and crying so hard, tears streaked down her beautiful face. Her brother knelt down in front of her and hugged her tightly. He told her everything would be all right but all she could say was, Nothing will ever be all right again Nikolaos, nothing. Athena woke up in a cold sweat in her bed, dried tears streaked down her face, That bastard, I hope he gets hit by a bus! It had been a year since her wedding day disaster, and yet it was now her reoccurring nightmare night after night. The love she once felt for her fiancé had now turned to hate, and she could only think about one day getting her revenge against him for playing her for such a fool.

No Love Only Business

Athena looked over at her alarm clock and realized it was already time to get up for work, so she reluctantly pulled back her sweat- filled sheets and quickly jumped in the shower. She got out, dried her beautiful long locks, and picked out a designer Gucci suit from her walk-in closet. She had an important business meeting with investors this morning. She quickly slipped into a pair of matching heels, grabbed a piece of fruit from the bowl on the kitchen counter, and headed out the door. Her driver was already outside waiting to take her to work. Her brother met her at the entrance of her office building, he too was a primary share holder in her company, and was attending the investors meeting as well.

As she had hoped, the investors meeting went smoothly, and she shook hands with everyone in attendance before heading out the conference room and towards her office. On the way to her office, her assistant informed her that someone had left a bouquet of roses for her. She also mentioned to Athena that whoever sent them, didn’t include a card. She asked Athena if she’d like her to put them in her office for her. Upon hearing this, Athena became irritated, she said, No, don’t you dare put those roses in my office, whoever sent them obviously doesn’t know I despise roses now, please throw them away and keep them out of my sight, I only have time for work, I could care less about anything else anymore. Her assistant quickly nodded, and took the roses and disposed of them right away. She needed this job, and the last thing she wanted to do was anything that would irritate her boss.

A Frightening Encounter

It was late one evening on a Friday, Athena was still in her office finishing up reports on the company’s annual sales. Normally her accounting department would handle this, but many in the accounting department had fallen sick with the flu. This situation left the department currently understaffed. Athena being the perfectionist that she was, decided to take it upon herself to get the reports done herself. She didn’t become president of her company on her looks or father’s name, but through hard work and years of college earning her three different business degrees. She perfected her skills once she graduated. First working for her father’s marketing firm, then branching out opening her own marketing firm in New York. Once established, she hired her brother Nikolaos on as her Vice President.

She was on her way down to the finance department to drop off the reports to be filed. Suddenly, she heard the security alarm on the back door leading to the emergency exit go off. This startled the hell out of her, because she knew no one else was currently on the top floor. The only way to get up there was with a special card key, or to be escorted up with security. She quickly ran back to her office to grab her purse, phone, and can of mace she always carried with her in case of emergency. She quickly called down to security on the entrance level. She informed them of what had happened, and instructed them to come up immediately to check on the situation. She also told them to make sure the police were notified too.

She decided to lock herself in her office until security came up, and have them escort her safely out of the building. Just as she closed and locked the door to her office, she turned around to walk back to her desk. She was immediately freaked out to see an unknown man sitting in her office chair. She quickly jumped back and screamed, How the hell did you get in here, who the hell are you!

The man looked at her, and immediately started to laugh in a deep sounding voice and says, Well my dear, I’m the man of your dreams. Well scratch that, I’m the demon of your wildest dreams. It’s a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Athena Drakos. She froze for a moment, then asked him how the hell he knew who she was and exactly what it was he wanted with her.

He told her he’s known who she was since the day she was born, and was just waiting for the right time to finally introduce himself to her. Hearing this, Athena’s fear started to turn to irritation, she crossed her arms over her chest, and says, I’m supposed to just believe that a stranger I’ve never seen before in my life, knows all about me, and is supposedly the man of my, oh excuse me, the demon of my dreams huh, and exactly who do I have the pleasure of speaking to anyway?

He smirked, and said, Oh pardon me, I forgot I didn’t properly introduce myself. My name is Abigor, and as I mentioned already, it’s a great pleasure to make your acquaintance, Athena. She looked at him and shook her head, she couldn’t believe the nerve of this guy or so-called demon as he called himself. She looked up and down at him, as he pushed the chair away from the desk. When he stood up, she noticed he was surprisingly tall, around six feet four inches in height. He had stunning emerald green eyes, dark black hair, and a lightly tanned colored skin tone. She couldn’t deny his looks were strikingly handsome, but she was not about to be taken in by his charming demeanor. He was a stranger, and an intruder, and she wanted him out of her office, and out of her building. After a few moments of silence between them, Athena said, Mr. Abigor, or demon Abigor, whichever you are, I don’t understand why you’re here, but security has already been alerted as well as the police, and unless you plan on going to jail for breaking and entering, I suggest you leave this instant, and never come back!

Upon hearing this, Abigor walked towards Athena, and as he continued to approach her, she slowly took a few steps backwards till she had her back against the office door. She quickly tried to unlock it, but Abigor reached her first and stood over her. He placed his hand against the door preventing her from opening it.

What are you doing? Athena couldn’t hide the look of fear and panic in her eyes now, as she looked up at him. Abigor said, Athena, as I said, I waited for the right time to introduce myself to you, I was not lying when I said I’ve known who you are since the day you were born. I knew your father, Dimitrios, for a little over forty years. He was a good friend, and on the day of your birth, he signed a contract in his blood, stating that any time after your twenty- first birthday, you would be betrothed to me. In doing so, he was guaranteed his wealth for his entire life, and continued wealth promised to you and your brother Nikolaos. Upon learning about your father’s death last year, I decided it was finally the right time to tell you about this arrangement, but I had been informed that earlier the same year, you were actually set to marry someone else, and you had found out on your wedding day that your fiancé had betrayed you. That’s when I decided to wait awhile longer to introduce myself to you.

This angered Athena. She said, You’re a liar, my father would never have done such a thing, he was always a good father, whom I loved dearly. He couldn’t have possibly signed me over in a prearranged marriage contract, it’s just not possible.

Abigor pulled a folder out from the inside of his blazer, and said, Oh, but it’s all true Athena, every word. If you don’t believe me, here’s the contact, feel free to read it over yourself, you’ll clearly see your father’s signature on the bottom written in his own blood. I’ll give you a day or two to read it over and let it all sink in, before I return. Trust me Athena, when I do return, it will be to make you officially my bride. He released his hand off the door, and Athena stepped back. Abigor opened the door and let himself out.

Athena immediately walked toward her office door to follow him, but to her surprise he was nowhere to be found. It was as though he disappeared into thin air. Athena started to feel a little lightheaded from the ordeal, and looked down at her hand realizing she was still holding the folder he had given her. She walked over to a chair near the elevator, and sat down to look over the contract. She only skimmed through it, but from what she read over, Abigor was telling the truth. What made her heart sink was when she saw the signature at the bottom. It was without a doubt her father’s signature written in blood. Just then security came up and asked her if she was okay, she told them yes, and about the man who had gained access to her office. They immediately checked the parameter and notified her there was no one else on the top floor. They escorted her down to the first floor where the police were waiting to get a statement from her about what had occurred. She gave her statement, and the police officers escorted her to her car, where her driver was waiting to take her home for the evening.

Once in the car, she sighed, and in a whispered voice she said to herself, Oh father, what have you done?

What’s The Truth, What’s A Lie

Athena woke up the next morning, from another reoccurring nightmare, except this time it ended with Abigor consoling her instead of her brother Nikolaos. She jumped out of bed and grabbed her cell phone and called her brother. She hoped he might know who this Abigor was, since he was closer to their father growing up, than she was. Nikolaos answered on the first ring, and immediately asked her what was wrong. He knew from past conversations with his sister, she never called him first thing in the morning unless there was a problem. She asked her brother to come over right away because she needed to ask him something in person.

About thirty minutes later, Nikolaos arrived at Athena’s house. She greeted her bother, then started to tell him about the intruder who had breached security. She said the intruder managed to make it all the way to the top floor of their company. Surprisingly, he did it without being detected by their guards or their surveillance cameras. She explained to him that while she waited for security and police to arrive on the top floor, she locked herself in her office. Unfortunately, the intruder was sitting in her desk, waiting for her. She said his name was Abigor, and he told her he had been close friends with their father for many years. Supposedly around forty years, and that their father had signed what can only be described as an iron- clad contract. She explained after reading it over, that it was in fact signed in their father’s own signature. In his actual blood. She went on to explain how the contract stated that any time after Athena’s 21st twenty-first birthday, she was hereby betrothed to Abigor.

Nikolaos was silent for a moment, and then asked her how she got this supposed contract. She told him that just before Abigor left her office, he handed her a folder containing this contract, and how he told her to read it over and would be in contact with her within a few days. Nikolaos, please, if you know anything about Abigor, you need to tell me. Was he in fact good friends with our father, and if so, why did he not appear to be older than thirty years old at most. Please brother, if you know anything about him or the friendship between our father and him, I need to know. After another long pause, Nikolaos told her that he did in fact know who Abigor was. He confirmed that Abigor was in no way human, and definitely a demon. As crazy as that sounded, it was true.

Their father had met him a little over twenty years before Athena was born. Their father’s business had hit hard times due to slander from an ex-partner at the time, and was in danger of going bankrupt. One day after hearing about their father’s dilemma, Abigor arrived at their father’s office and made him a deal he couldn’t refuse. The only condition was, that if he and his wife should get pregnant again and they had a daughter, she would be betrothed to Abigor. At the time, their dad was quick to agree because he and their mom had not been getting along too well back then. So, their father didn’t think they would be having another child in the near future. Well, as it turned out, he was wrong, because two years later, Athena was born. Then barely a week after her birth, Abigor came to the family home, with a lawyer and contract in hand. He was there to make sure their dad made good on his promise. He then explained to her that although he was only around seven at the time, he had in fact overheard their conversation. He told her he remembered that just before their dad had signed the contract, he had added an amendment to it. The amendment had stated only after his daughter’s twenty-first birthday, could his daughter be officially betrothed to Abigor. Thankfully, Abigor generously agreed with this amendment. After Abigor had left that day, Nikolaos told her that their father told him the reason he had added that amendment to the contract. It was because their father hoped that Athena would be fortunate enough to find the real love of her life and get married to someone else before that time came. Making the contract null and void.

Nikolaos looked at his sister, and gave her a tight hug, and said, I’m sorry Athena, I know neither Father nor I ever thought he’d get the chance to make you his bride, just know Father loved you very much and he regretted his decision every day. He just hoped that should this day ever come, you’d forgive him. He had thought at the time, that he had made the best choice he could of, in order to continue to provide for us, and give us the life he felt we deserved.

Athena was floored. She couldn’t believe it was actually true. She hoped that this contract was just some made- up document, meant to be perceived as authentic. She foolishly hoped Abigor was just some obsessed stalker. Now she knew that this was all prearranged before she was even brought into existence. She asked her brother to leave. He nodded his head, and didn’t say another word as he walked out the door. Athena immediately felt weak and fell to her knees.

Tears suddenly welled up in her eyes, and she wrapped her arms around her chest tight. She started to rock back and forth on the heels of her feet. In a whispered voice she said, This is far worse than any lie, this is truly a living nightmare, and it’s only just beginning.

A Special Gift Arrives

Athena didn’t bother to go to work for several days after her last conversation with her brother. Instead, she remained wrapped up in her comforter, crying inconsolably. She was dreading the day Abigor would come for her. It was around noon on Monday, when Athena heard the doorbell ring, followed by a persistent knocking. She feared it was Abigor, because two days had already passed. She realized it would be pointless not to answer. She was sure he already knew she was home. If he was capable of getting into her high-level security office building without being detected, she knew her home wouldn’t be hard at all for him to break into. She walked downstairs still wrapped in her comforter to the front door and looked through the peep hole. She didn’t see anyone outside and breathed a sigh of relief. She decided to unlock the front door anyway, to see if anyone was there. She was surprised to see a small velvet red box with a black satin bow placed perfectly on the welcome mat. She leaned down to pick it up and looked around to see if anyone was around. Surprisingly, she didn’t see anyone. She took the box and closed the door and locked it.

She looked closely at the box and noticed the small gift tag attached with a message. The message was from Abigor. It read this gift was something special just for her. It also mentioned that once they were married, he would see to it that anything she ever desired would always be hers. The message piqued her interest, and she thought to herself that if this wasn’t an engagement ring, what could it possibly be? She decided to undo the ribbon and open the box.

What she saw inside was nothing that she expected to find. It was a beautifully crafted antique green key, adorned with what looked like small green diamonds in between carved roses around the top rim of it. She took the key out of the box and inspected it closely. It sparkled brilliantly when rays of sunlight coming from the window shone upon it. It even had her full name engraved on it, with the word’s ‘skeleton key’ engraved in smaller print below her name. The key came with a beautiful twenty-four carat gold chain that could be attached to it, to wear as a necklace. She decided to attach the chain to the key and put it around her neck. She walked over to her hallway mirror to see how it looked on her. She couldn’t help but smile when she saw how beautifully the whole thing seemed to sparkle even brighter against her fair skin. She picked up the box once more to see if there was anything else inside it. She noticed what looked like a piece of paper sticking out from under the satin inlay of the box. She pulled at it and sure enough, it was a finely folded piece of paper. She carefully unfolded it, and read the words written in red ink. At least she hoped it was ink, and not blood. It read that the key was an ancient piece, crafted deep in the fires of hell, and created to grant the bearer of the key, unlimited access to their darkest desires. In order to activate the power within the key, one must claim ownership by pricking one’s finger, and placing three drops of their own blood onto the key where the name of the person gifted the key is engraved. Attached to the bottom corner of the note was an iridescent looking needle. There were words written in small print on it that indicated this was the specific needle that must be used to prick her finger. The information in the note made her feel a bit uneasy, but her curiosity got the better of her.

She took the special needle, and pricked her right index finger. She used her thumb to press against her index finger to drip three drops of her blood over her name engraved on the key. As soon as the third drop of blood landed on the key, it instantly glowed a bright red, illuminating every letter of her name engraved upon it. After a minute, the glowing light subsided.

Athena was in disbelief as to what had just occurred, she said to herself, What the hell did I just do? Just then, she felt lightheaded and everything suddenly faded to black.

Abigor Is Here

Athena finally came to, she wasn’t sure what had occurred, but she found herself in her bed, and it was now evening.

Hello, beautiful, I’m happy to see you’re finally awake.

Athena froze, she immediately recognized the voice coming from the corner of her room. She quickly turned on the light on her bedside table, and was able to see it was, in fact, Abigor. He sat in the corner of her room, in her plush chair, just staring at her with a devilishly handsome smile.  

Athena said, Abigor, I’m not going to bother asking how you got in here, but I would like to know why you’re here and what exactly happened to me. The last thing I remember, I was getting lightheaded after I added drops of my blood onto this strange antique key you sent me. 

Abigor stood up, walked over to her, and sat at the foot of her bed. He said, My dear one, when you activated the power within the key with your drops of blood, the key became instantly attached to your life force, in order to grant all your deepest darkest desires. The connection formed with the key caused you to become lightheaded and lose consciousness for a while. Now that the bond has been established between you and the key, that won’t happen again.

Athena looked down at the key around her neck. She held onto the key and could feel heat radiating off of it. Abigor seemed to know this, and told her the heat was being generated by her life force, because the key was now an extension of her. He arose, and this time sat right next to her on the bed, he placed his hand over her right hand that was holding the key.

He looked into her beautiful sapphire eyes and said, Athena, I know you are unsure about me, but I’m confident in time, you will love me.

He released her hand and reached into his pants pocket. He pulled out a black velvet ring box, got down on one knee as he opened it, presenting Athena with a beautiful blue diamond five carat ring. The ring was set in a white diamond platinum band. He took the ring out, took her left hand, and slid it onto her ring finger. It fit perfectly. It even matched the color of her eyes. She was speechless. Never had she seen such a flawless blue diamond before. She felt a bit uneasy, as images from her nightmarish wedding from a year ago, suddenly filled her thoughts. She then felt tears start to well up in her eyes. She had made a promise to herself a year ago, that she would never let anyone break her heart ever again. Even if she did in fact have to honor the marriage contract arranged and signed by her late father, she knew Abigor couldn’t make her love him. The thought of this suddenly made the idea of this marriage arrangement bearable.

She thought to herself, "As long as I view this upcoming union as a business transaction, I’ll be able to keep