Dark December [A Holiday Filled Horror Anthology]

Snuggles by: NateDBurleigh

Snuggles by NateDBurleigh

"Did it work?" Jenny's hands trembled.

"I think so. Merry Christmas to us." Kate smirked.

The sorority sisters knelt behind the girl they'd chosen to help them in their plight. Jenny folded to a half sitting position on Kate's left.

"You said it would surge. I didn't feel anything. And I don't feel more powerful."

"Just wait for it."

Kate set the blood-soaked Athame next to her knee. When she plunged the ritualistic blade into the Freshman's throat, she'd missed dead center, and sliced the carotid artery, sending spurts of blood across Jenny's bare torso.

Jenny had slapped her hands over her mouth to stop two things, vomit racing up her esophagus and to keep from interrupting Kate's incantation. She knew full well the consequences of a misspoken spell.

"You glad I made you do this in the buff?" Kate's eyes skimmed over Jenny's body as she stood.

Jenny nodded and averted her gaze to the couch where she'd laid out their Snuggle blankets. The commercial with the girl sitting in the recliner, sipping a cup of hot tea next to her beautiful tree, wrapped in a Snuggle came to mind. An ingenious idea, a plush comforter with sleeves and hood. She longed to wrap up in her light-pink one and sip a cup of hot cocoa by the fire.

Not gonna happen now.

As second to the High Priestess in their coven, which masqueraded as a typical sorority, Kate wanted a boost in power. She'd said the spell would give her the edge she needed to ascend to the third-degree. Then she could overthrow the High Priestess. But it required a human sacrifice.

Jenny had begged Kate not to go through with it. Even though she'd only been in the sorority for a year, she knew if they used black magic and shed blood, it would come back on them threefold.

Kate would have nothing of it and called it, "a load of superstitious bullshit." She wanted the power and if sacrifice would give it to her, then so be it.

The bookworm they'd found in the Library lay still: arms outstretched, legs spread wide, empty eyes staring at the iron Acanthus chandelier dangling above. Blood filled the tarp they'd found, but it kept the fluid from ruining the house's prized Persian rug. The ritual should have been performed on hardwood, but they had to use the materials on hand and the circle ended up crude and warped on the downstairs living room floor.

"Well, I'm gross." Kate held her waist-long brunette hair away from her blood-soaked chest.

Jenny had always been envious of Kate's hair and her big boobs. She called them, "Kate's bodacious ta' ta's." She looked down at her double A's and sighed. With more power, she might have been able to conjure the courage having breasts (a couple sizes larger) gives a girl. Then she could get the perfect job, nab the rich boy, and obtain everything she ever wanted in life. In her eyes, girls like Kate were the ones who ended up with the good life. That's why she followed her BFF from Idaho Falls to the University of Maine. If she hadn't, she'd probably be married, pregnant, barefoot, and baking cookies; the perfect little housewife.